Ukraine’s Finance Ministry to stop selling bonds denominated in foreign currency – UNIAN

REUTERS

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine plans to stop placing government domestic loan bonds denominated in foreign currency.

“Our goal in the future is to switch to borrowings in hryvnias in the local market,” government representative for public debt management Yuriy Butsa said at the Ukrainian Financial Forum in Kyiv.

According to him, 50% of the funding in 2019 was in hryvnias.

In addition, Butsa said, there is a problem of a currency risk due to the high share of foreign currency debt.

He also said that the Finance Ministry would no longer place five-year hryvnia-denominated bonds, since a very large amount of funds has already been raised, using that tool.

“This is where we stop using this tool – we won’t place it anymore,” he added.

According to him, demand for funds by the end of the year is estimated at only UAH 50 billion (about US$2 billion), while the Finance Ministry expects to receive financing from international partners, therefore it will be enough to place a limited amount of 1-2-3-year government bonds at government auctions.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine’s Finance Ministry raised UAH 174.124 billion, US$3.220 billion, and EUR 189 million at auctions to place government domestic loan bonds in January-August 2019.