UNIAN
At least 5% of Ukraine’s state budget is spent on servicing the country’s debts, according to Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Jaresko.
"Since January 1, we have spent $2.4 billion received in the form of financial assistance on servicing $3.1 billion in debts," the minister said during the eighth Security Forum held in Ukrainian capital on May 28-29.
"This debt puts pressure on the economy and on the ability to finance other costs – for medicine, education, the social sphere," Jaresko added.
Earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk stated that Ukraine is to spend about UAH 90 billion on debt servicing until the end of 2015. At the same time, he noted, the total amount of payments on external and domestic debt in the next four years is expected to amount to $47 billion. Currently the total amount of debt reaches about $70 billion, while the main part of it - $40 billion - was formed during the presidency of ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the total public and publicly guaranteed debt of Ukraine as of April 30, 2015 amounted to $67.347 billion, which is $2.322 billion or 3.6% more than at the beginning of the month.
The total amount of public and publicly guaranteed debt in hryvnia equivalent decreased in April by UAH 107 billion, or by 7%, to UAH 1.417 trillion.
Since the beginning of the year, the public and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency decreased by $2.447 billion, or by 3.5%, while in the hryvnia equivalent the figure rose by UAH 316 billion, or by 28.7%.