Ukraine raises USD 402 mln from local Eurobond placement

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry placed locally six-month,
USD-denominated bonds at a 5.0% rate and three-year USD bonds at a 5.4% rate on
Dec. 19, raising a total of USD 402 mln. On top of that, it raised UAH 459 mln
from the placement of three-month and six-month UAH denominated bonds at the
rates of 16.0% and 15.95%, respectively.

Including the latest placement, MinFin managed to
attract on the domestic market USD 0.52 bln from foreign currency bond
placements in December, vs. USD 0.68 bln attracted in November and USD 0.72 bln
attracted in 10M17. No more placements of local Eurobonds are scheduled for
this year.

Alexander Paraschiy: The raised money will be directed to repay a USD-denominated local
bond (USD 0.38 bln) that matures today. All the December placements won’t be
enough to cover the foreign currency spending of MinFin and the central bank
this month, which should result in Ukraine’s gross international reserves
falling. We continue to expect Ukraine’s end-2017 gross reserves to be USD 18.6
bln, or slightly below the USD 18.9 bln level at the end of November.