REUTERS
Next year the government will face a similar problem of shortfalls in budget revenues as in 2019, since the budget lays down an unrealistic hryvnia exchange rate, the economist believes.
Ukraine in 2020 will be facing record-high payments on external debt, which means the government's demand in financing will stand at nearly US$13 billion, Dragon Capital's economist Olena Belan has told UNIAN.
"Given the repayment of domestic debt and the budget deficit, we estimate the total funding needs of the government in the amount of about $13 billion, of which more than half will need to be attracted from external creditors," the expert says.
Belan believes that next year the government will face a similar problem of shortfalls in budget revenues as in 2019, since the budget lays down an unrealistic hryvnia exchange rate.
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At the same time, the sharp strengthening of the hryvnia played an important role in increasing the debt sustainability of Ukraine, the expert believes.
"Strengthening of the hryvnia is favorable for the debt to GDP ratio. According to the results of 2019, it will be close to 50%, which is eleven percentage points lower than in 2018 and lower than in some developed economies like Germany," Dragon Capital Chief Economist Olena Belan said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the volume of public and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine in January-November increased by four and a half billion dollars, or 5.8%, up to $83 billion, which amounted to almost two trillion in hryvnia equivalent (a decrease of UAH 177.7 billion, or 8.2%).