Ukraine's state debt may grow to 80% of GDP by the end of 2016 / Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine's state and state-guaranteed debt in hryvnias as of the end of August was UAH 1.708 trillion, which was 2.8%, or UAH 46.82 billion (about US$1.8 billion at the current forex rate), up on the beginning of the month, according to a posting on the Ukrainian Finance Ministry.
Overall state and state-guaranteed debt in the U.S. dollar by the end of August 2016 was $66.59 billion, or 0.6%, or $410 million, down on the figure registered at the beginning of that month.
Director of the Case Ukraine analytical group Dmytro Boyarchuk explained in a comment to UNIAN that the rising levels of the state and state-guaranteed guaranteed debt in the hryvnia equivalent were due to the weakening of the local currency in August. While the sum of the debt denominated in the hryvnia shrank, the sum of the debt in foreign currency, if re-calculated in hryvnias, went up.
In January-August 2016, the amount of state and state-guaranteed debt in U.S. dollars increased by 1.7%, or by $1.08 billion, the sum in the hryvnia equivalent was 8.7%, or UAH 136 billion, up, Ukraine's Finance Ministry reported.
Read alsoUkraine's gross foreign debt shrinks to $115 blnAs UNIAN reported, Ukraine's state and state-guaranteed debt in July shrank by 0.2%, to $66.995 billion, the sum in the hryvnia equivalent declined by 0.4%, to UAH 1.661 trillion.
Experts estimate that the debt will grow to $68 billion, or 80% of GDP, by the end of 2016, and then it may decline to 75% of GDP in 2017.
The national budget of Ukraine for 2016 caps the country's state and state-guaranteed debt at UAH 1.946 trillion by the end of the year.