Ukraine annually spends 4% of GDP for servicing public debt – expert

"Now the level of Ukraine's public and government-guaranteed debt is about 80% of GDP... Spending on servicing public debt is already at about 4% of GDP," Kukhta wrote on Facebook.

According to him, the level of public debt at 40% of GDP is safe for developing economies, while the EU accession requirement allows for a 60% debt-to-GDP ratio.

The expert stressed that more than 40% of costs on servicing the Ukrainian public debt is channeled to official creditors, including international organizations and countries. The foreign currency component reaches 70% of the public debt. At the same time, the average cost of domestic state debt in the Ministry of Finance's portfolio is about 12% per annum, external commercial state debt is about 7%, and the external official state debt is under 2%.

Read alsoUkraine’s international reserves increase to $18.8 bln in 2017 - NBU"If we want to systemically solve the debt problem, then at some point we should think about accelerating fiscal consolidation and moving to a deficit-free budget," Kukhta said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's public and government-guaranteed debt shrank by 1%, or US$0.75 billion, to $76.29 billion in October 2017.

Read alsoActual revenue of Ukraine's 2017 budget 2.7% up on targetAccording to Law No. 2446-VIII "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2018", adopted by the Verkhovna Rada and signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the budget deficit ceiling shall not exceed UAH 80.6 billion or 2.4% of GDP. The limit of the state debt is set at UAH 1.999,3 billion, which will be 60% of GDP.