Ukraine's national debt in 2023 grows 30.4% in dollar terms to new historical maximum

MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Ukraine's public and state-guaranteed debt increased 35.4%, or by UAH 1.444 trillion in 2023 to a new historical maximum of UAH 5.5195 trillion; in dollar terms, this represents a 30.4% or $33.9 billion increase to $145.32 billion, Ukrainian media reported referring the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance website.

The data show that direct public debt increased 34.4% to $136.59 billion (UAH 5.1881 trillion), or 94% of the total amount of public and state-guaranteed debt.

External direct debt last year increased 49.1%, or $31.2 billion to $94.79 billion, while internal direct debt rose 14.2%, or UAH 198 billion, to UAH 1.5877 trillion.

The total external public debt of Ukraine increased 42.3%, or by $30.23 billion, to $101.7 billion, while total internal debt rose 13.3%, or by UAH 194.6 billion, to UAH 1.6565 trillion. As a result, the share of total external public debt reached 70%.

The Ministry of Finance said that the country's share of liabilities in euros at the end of 2023 increased to 32.32%, while decreasing 26.21% in US dollars, 27.21% in hryvnia, 11.34% in special drawing rights, 2.26% in Canadian dollars, and 0.65% in yen, and remaining at 0.02% in British pounds.

As reported, Ukraine's state and state-guaranteed debt increased $13.4 billion in 2022 to $111.45 billion.

The International Monetary Fund, as part of the first and second revisions of its EFF extended financing program for Ukraine, significantly improved the forecast for government debt growth in 2023 from 98.3% of GDP to 87.1% of GDP, in part by revising its estimate at the end of 2022 from 81.7% of GDP to 78.5% of GDP. The IMF estimates Ukraine's external financing needs in 2024 at $42 billion and expects that by the end of this year, public debt will reach 96.7% of GDP, rising to 98.5% by the end of 2025.

The official exchange rate as of January 30 is 37.89 UAH/$1.