IMF's program for Ukraine aimed at helping it achieve balance of payments, debt sustainability - European Dept director

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - The International Monetary Fund's new four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine aims to help the country achieve a balance of payments and debt sustainability by its expiration in February 2030, allowing it to do without an IMF program and further support from the outside, Ukrainian media quoted IMF European Department Director Alfred Kammer as saying at a press conference in Washington last Friday.

The Ukrainian government needs to build up the revenue capacity over time, which is important not so much for the current situation as for the reconstruction, as well as for the medium term, he said.

"The Ukraine authorities are proceeding with the debt restructuring they have started already. So that's why we're expecting at the end of the program that debt is sustainable if we achieve these objectives," Kammer said.

As reported, Ukraine's total sovereign debt reached a new all-time high in 2025, growing by $47.27 billion, or 28.5%, to $213.33 billion in dollar terms, or by UAH 2.062 trillion, or 29.5%, to UAH 9.043 trillion in hryvnia terms.

Ukraine's total foreign sovereign debt in 2025 increased by 47.5%, or $45.51 billion, to $160.39 billion, while its total domestic debt increased by 5.6%, or by UAH 104.1 billion, to UAH 1.967 trillion.

Estimates based on which Ukraine's new EFF program was approved in late February 2026 show that the country's sovereign debt will increase from 108.7% of GDP to 122.6% of GDP over 2026, compared to 89.7% of GDP at the beginning of 2025 and 77.7% of GDP at the end of 2022.

Furthermore, Ukraine's sovereign debt is expected to peak at 137.1% of GDP in 2027, after which it should decline to 135.5% of GDP in 2028, to 131.9% of GDP in 2029, and to 125.7% of GDP in 2030.