Ukraine's financial troubles emanate from years of economic mismanagement and the Donbas conflict / Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine's dollar bonds slipped to multi-week lows on Thursday as investors awaited progress in protracted debt restructuring talks between Ukraine and its creditors, according to Reuters.
Talks have been dragging on for five months, but news has been scarce since face-to-face negotiations in San Mateo, California, the United States, between Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko and a group of Ukraine's largest creditors on restructuring terms of $19 billion worth of Ukraine's debt, Reuters wrote.
Eurobonds with the 2017 and 2022 issues slipped by around 1 cent to trade at 55.448 cents and 55.000 cents in the dollar respectively – a level they had last seen towards end-July when the debt talks hit a stumbling block and a high-level meeting was called off.
The 2023 issue slipped by 0.125 cents to a 10-day low of 55.625 cents, according to the report.
"Time is running out here," said Trieu Pham, EM credit strategy analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, referring to a $60 million coupon due on August 23, which has to be paid on Monday, and a $500-million bond maturing on September 23.
The two sides hinge on whether the bonds' face value should be written down and by how much.
Ukraine's financial troubles emanate from years of economic mismanagement and a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the country's eastern areas.
A recent escalation of violence has added to investors' concern.
Ukraine's military said on Thursday that four Ukrainian servicemen had been killed and 14 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian militants in the past 24 hours. Separatist officials accused Ukrainian troops in turn of shelling rebel territory, including residential areas.