Ukraine reduced its external debt by 4% in H1

Photo: PHL

The gross external debt of Ukraine in the end of H1 2014 amounted to US $136.8 bn. The debt decreased by US 5.3 bn (3.7%) compared with the indicators in beginning of the year, reported the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine.

The main factor for the decrease over the reported period was the reduction of volume of the external obligations in private sector by US $7.4 bn while the national debt has increased due to attraction of the official loans by the government,” said NBU.

At that, in relation to the GDP the debt has increased from 78.1% to 81.8% in the beginning of the year.

In the beginning of 2014, the external obligations of the administrative and monetary control bodies have increased by US $2.1 bn to US $33.8 bn as a result of attraction of loans by the government from the World Bank (US $750 mn) and European Union (EUR 618 mn) in Q2. Within the frames of the Stand-By Arrangement, the Cabinet of Ministers and National Bank of Ukraine have received US $3.2 bn from the International Monetary Fund. The planned repayment of loans amounted to US $2.4 bn.

The debt of the administrative and monetary control bodies has increased from 17.4% to 20.2% in relation to the GDP.

The external debt of the banking sector of Ukraine in H1 decreased by US $1.3 bn and amounted to US $21.3 bn (12.7% from the GDP), as of July 1.