Photo from UNIAN
The nation's state debt is expected to shrink to 60% of GDP by the end of 2018.
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a three-year strategy for public debt management, which implies a reduction in the state debt before 2020 to no more than 49% of GDP, as well as optimization of the debt structure.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said during debates on the strategy on August 22 that borrowings are necessary for the development of the country's economy. But Ukraine must get rid of debt dependence in the future.
According to the prime minster, the national debt in 2005 was estimated at US$12.5 billion, or 14.3% of GDP. In 2013, it grew by $48 billion, to $60 billion, a disastrous level for the Ukrainian national budget and citizens.
"We spend UAH 130 billion [$4.7 billion] annually on [state debt] servicing alone. Only interest [on debt]," Groysman said.
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Presenting the strategy, Acting Finance Minister of Ukraine Oksana Markarova has noted she assumes the nation's state debt will shrink to 60% of GDP by the end of 2018 and further to 52% in 2019, and to 49% before the end of 2020.
In addition, the strategy envisages a more even repayment schedule with an extension of terms, attracting more long-term concessional financing, increasing the share of the state debt in the national currency, and developing relations with investors.
"The state debt shrank to 61.5% of GDP at the end of 2017. Now we see a decline to a healthier level of 60% of GDP," Markarova added.
UNIAN memo. Ukraine's state and government-guaranteed debt, estimated in U.S. dollars, shrank by 0.02%, to $76.26 billion in the first half of 2018, while the debt in hryvnia equivalent declined by 6.7%, to UAH 1.998 trillion ($72 billion).
Ukraine's state debt, estimated in U.S. dollars, rose by 7.5%, to $76.3 billion in 2017, while it grew by 11% in the hryvnia equivalent, to UAH 2.1 trillion ($76 billion).