Ukraine state debt reaches USD 70.6 bln in August

Ukraine’s state and guaranteed debt reached USD 70.6 bln at the end of August, of which 65.3% was external liabilities, the Finance Ministry reported on Oct 6. The debt statistics had not been updated since June. July figures are still unavailable.

Alexander Paraschiy: The state debt has increased 3.7%, or USD 2.5 bln, since June. A USD 1.67 bln wire from the IMF, a EUR 600 mln loan from the EU and a USD 500 mln loan from the World Bank were the key sources of debt growth. Still, the main movements on the debt are ahead. In particular, in the upcoming months we anticipate official statistics to reflect a 20% Eurobond haircut (about USD 3.6 bln). On the other hand, more loans are expected to arrive, namely a USD 3.3 bln third and fourth tranche from the IMF, more than USD 1.0 bln from EU and IFIs for natural gas purchases, USD 1.0 bln in Eurobonds (under U.S. guarantees) and an extra EUR 600 mln from EU. So we anticipate the state and guaranteed debt to reach USD 74.0 bln (88.2% of GDP) by the end of 2015.