Ukraine raises USD 72 mln from local Eurobonds

Ukraine’s Finance Ministry raised USD 71.6 mln (UAH
1.9 bln in the equivalent) at its weekly bond auction on Mar. 17 after
cancelling the auction last week due to the growing uncertainty at the market.
The auction receipts came from the placement of 10M USD-denominated bonds.

The government satisfied 13 out of 16 bids at 3.5%. To
compare, MinFin placed on Feb. 11 14M USD-denominated bonds at 3.39%.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: We were
right in our prediction that the government will resort to placing
local Eurobonds. The pricing of UAH-denominated
local bonds is problematic given the fast depreciation of the national currency
and the overall turmoil at the financial market related to the coronavirus
pandemic.

Interest rates for the placed local Eurobonds didn’t
surge at this auction. However, nothing will be able to suppress the growing appetite
of local Eurobonds buyers in the nearest future, as the government has no other
sources for financing the budget deficit at the moment.