State debt of Ukraine increases by 4.6% in Jan

The total public debt of Ukraine in January increased by 4.55%: in dollar terms by $5.06 billion, to $116.44 billion, in hryvnia terms by UAH 185.35 billion, to UAH 4.26 trillion, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Finance.

According to the report, over the past month, direct public debt increased by 4.7%, to $106.4 billion, or UAH 3.89 trillion, and amounted to 91.4% of the total public and publicly guaranteed debt.

It is reported that external direct debt increased by $3.97 billion, to $67.56 billion, while domestic direct debt increased by UAH 30.77 billion, to UAH 1.42 trillion (the equivalent of $38.84 billion).

The total external public debt of Ukraine in January 2023 increased by 5.9%, or $4.23 billion, to $75.63 billion, while the total domestic debt increased by 2.1%, or UAH 30.6 billion, to UAH 1.49 trillion.

As a result, the share of total external public debt in January increased from 64.1% to 65.0%.

"The main reason for the growth of debt is the attraction of the first tranche of macro-financial assistance from the EU. 5/6 of the increase in public debt in January is due to an increase in external debt," commented the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, in the Telegram channel, emphasizing preferential nature of the EU loan.

According to him, thanks to the restructuring of commercial debt and the deferral provided by the Paris Club, UAH 12.6 billion was spent on public debt servicing in two months of 2023, which is 2.5 times less than in the same period last year.

In addition, the burden on the economy, as for a war, remains moderate, Hetmantsev believes: at the end of 2022, the ratio of public debt to GDP was estimated at 84.4%, and according to the IMF and NBU forecasts, it will not go beyond 100% in the medium term.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the share of liabilities in euro at the end of January increased to 24.58%, in Canadian dollars – to 1.26%, while in U.S. dollars it decreased to 28.68%, SDR – to 12.56%, yen – to 0.88%, British pounds – to 0.02%, and in hryvnia – to 32.02%.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua