Ukraine's state debt down to 72% of GDP in 2017 – Finance Ministry

REUTERS Deputy Finance Minister Yuriy Butsa has said Ukraine&#39;s state and publicly guaranteed debt in 2017 dropped to 71.8% of GDP from 80.9% year-over-year, in the first fall since 2011. "Having the final GDP figure, we calculated the ratio of state and publicly guaranteed debt to GDP, seeing that it has decreased for the first time since 2011, moving toward the &#39;safe&#39; 60%," Butsa wrote on Facebook, commenting on the final stats on GDP growth for 2017 by 2.5%.Read alsoUkraine&#39;s gross foreign debt grows to $117 bln as of Jan 1 According to him, the main reason for the decline was low budget deficit and, as a consequence, a lower need for borrowing. However, Butsa recalled that a significant increase in debt to GDP in 2014 was mainly due to the consistent policy of the "UAH 8 to the dollar" fans. "This led to a sharp devaluation when there was not enough foreign exchange reserves. The current monetary policy of the National Bank of Ukraine together with our policy to reduce the currency component of the state debt minimizes the risks of a repeat of such a scenario in the future," Butsa said. As UNIAN reported earlier, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, Ukraine&#39;s real GDP growth in 2017 was 2.5%, which is higher than rough estimates previously had it at 2.2%.

Ukraine's state debt down to 72% of GDP in 2017 – Finance Ministry

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