PM Shmyhal: Growth of Ukraine's public debt is "natural"

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says the growth in the country's public debt is natural and it is within acceptable parameters agreed by the ministries and international partners.

Read alsoPublic debt grows by US$490 mln to almost US$91 bln in JanHe made the comment during a traditional Q&A session in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on March 5.

"As of the beginning of last year, public debt was officially posted at US$85 billion. As of the end of January [2021], public debt amounted to US$90 billion, in the equivalent. All parameters of the national budget, its deficit, and loans, which were planned to be achieved last year, have been met. Therefore, this is a natural growth in the national debt. It is within the parameters and permissible limits agreed upon by all ministries and our international partners," he said.

Shmyhal says such an amount of public debt is also acceptable for international investors and does not exceeds the limits that are unacceptable or complicate debt servicing.

In turn, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, who was also present in parliament, added that the actual budget deficit in 2020 was below the target, which made it possible to save on loans.

"I'd like to add that we had a planned budget deficit at 7.5% last year, whereas the actual one was 5.3%. That is, we had the opportunity to save money and avoid excess borrowings last year," he said.

Background

Ukraine's Finance Ministry earlier said the country's overall public debt in January 2021 increased by US$490 million, to US$90.74 billion.