Ukraine's public debt up 3.9%, external 6.3% in Q1

MOSCOW. May 2 (Interfax) - Ukraine's total public debt rose to a new high in the first quarter of 2024: in dollar terms by $5.73 billion or 3.9% to $151.05 billion, and in hryvnia terms by UAH 404.8 billion or 7.3% to UAH 5.924 trillion, Ukrainian media reported, quoting materials from the country's Finance Ministry.

Direct public debt increased 4.8% to $141.1 billion, or to UAH 5.613 trillion and was 94.7% of the total public and state-guaranteed debt.

External direct debt increased 7.4% to $101.85 billion, while internal direct debt increased 1.9% to UAH 1.618 trillion.

The total external public debt increased 6.3% to $108.09 billion, and total internal debt 1.7% to UAH 1.685 trillion.

As a result, the share of total external public debt increased to 71.6%.

Debt denominated in U.S. and Canadian dollars and pounds sterling at the end of March 2024 increased to 26.32%, 3.1% and 0.13%, respectively, while in euros it decreased to 32.23%, in hryvnia - to 25.86%, in special drawing rights to 10.79% and in yen to 0.58%.

The ministry said 67.85% of the public debt was at a fixed interest rate, 10.79% was pegged to the IMF rate, 9.11% to SOFR, 0.58% to TORF and 3.95% to EURIBOR. Another 2.45% was linked to the consumer price index and 4.88% to the National Bank of Ukraine's policy rate, and 0.22% to the individual hryvnia deposit rate used in the portfolio guarantees program.

Ukraine's direct and guaranteed public debt grew $13.4 billion in 2022 and $33.9 billion in 2023.