Ukraine intends to postpone debt payments for next two years

Ukraine intends to postpone repayment of its Eurobonds and payments of interest on them for 24 months from August 1, according to a government resolution published on Wednesday.

The government, which is trying to deal with the impact of Russia's February 24 invasion, instructed the finance ministry to hold negotiations with creditors on deferring payments by Aug.
15 and promised additional interest on postponed payments.

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The government also plans to postpone payment on the GDP-linked warrants to August 2024 from May 2023, it said.

Ukraine holds several outstanding issues of Eurobonds worth about $19.5 billion with maturity in 2022-2033 that are set to be postponed until 2024-2035 respectively.

Ukraine is facing a record external debt payment in September -- almost 57 billion hryvnias ($1.93 billion) -- and the state budget revenues cover only a third of the country's financial needs.

Tymofiy Mylovanov, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, has urged foreign partners to increase their financial support for Ukraine to help the country prevent a crisis in a situation where expenditures have increased significantly because of the war while revenues have fallen.

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