Ukraine state debt almost flat in January

Ukraine’s state debt inched up 0.3% to USD 71.2 bln in January (from USD 71.0 bln at end-December), the Finance Ministry reported on March 23. The only reason was minor changes from exchange rate fluctuation. In particular, internal debt grew 0.3% to USD 25.4 bln. External debt increased 0.4% to USD 45.8 bln. The share of external debt remained unchanged at 64.3%.

Alexander Paraschiy: State debt remains unchanged at 81.0% of GDP amid delayed funding from the EU and the IMF. Local borrowings also are modest against the backdrop of strong budget collections. In light of such developments, we are keeping our 2017 state debt forecast unchanged at USD 72.9 bln, or 75.3% of GDP, stilll anticipating at least USD 1.0 bln from the IMF and EUR 0.6 bln from EU this year.