Ukraine state debt grows 2.7% in April
6 June 2017
Ukraine’s state debt grew 2.7% to USD 74.3 bln in April owing to IFI lending, the Finance Ministry reported on June 2. A USD 1.0 bln loan from the IMF and EUR 0.6 bln loan from the EU added to the USD 72.4 bln March debt level. As a result, external debt increased 4.0%, or USD 1.8 bln, to USD 47.5 bln.
Internal debt also increased slightly, by 0.5% to USD 26.8 bln, mainly due to the national currency strengthening. The hryvnia swelled by 1.6% to UAH 26.55/USD. Hryvnia-denominated internal debt decreased 1.0% (by UAH 7.5 bln) amid UAH 9.5 bln in payments on state bonds and UAH 3.5 bln in borrowings.
The share of external debt inched up to 63.9% from 63.2% in the prior month.
Alexander Paraschiy: Ukraine has already received a large chunk of the external loans we projected for the whole year. We see good chances for another wire from the IMF this year if pension and farmland reforms are approved. Also there is a chance for USD 1.0 bln arriving from a Eurobond placement in the second half, as indicated by the Finance Ministry.
At the same time, we are skeptical about the USD 4.5 bln in total funding envisaged in the IMF memorandum for 2017. Against this backdrop, we still believe the state debt will not exceed USD 76.3 bln (79.0% of GDP) by the end of 2017.
