State Debt in March 2020

In March 2020, the total state and state-guaranteed debt in national currency grew by 10.1% to UAH 2 255.5 billion due to Hryvnia devaluation against the US dollar by 12.4% in March 2020, while in foreign currency equivalent total state debt decreased by 3.6% to USD 80.38 billion.

The announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic and the anticipation of a possible recession in the global economy affected the activity of investors in the capital market. In March, the Ministry of Finance held three auctions for the placement of domestic government bonds out of the five scheduled, which resulted in UAH 33 billion attracted to the state budget. The funds were attracted mainly in foreign currency, but at low rates. At the last auction, which took place on March 24, the average interest rates of the 3m USD-denominated bonds was 3%, while 1.2Y EUR government bonds were placed at 2.22%. The yield on six-months bonds denominated in UAH at the March 3 auction was 9.9%.

During the reporting period, the government debt repayment expenditures amounted to UAH 9.6 billion, including redemption of the CAD 200 million (USD 141.8 million) loan issued by the Canadian Export Agency in 2015. The loan was attracted for a period of 5 years at a rate of 1.43% to stabilize the economy of Ukraine. State debt service payments amounted to UAH 20.1 billion.

Detailed information on the state and guaranteed state debt of Ukraine in March 2020 and other periods can be found on the official website of the Ministry of Finance here.