Russia, which owns three billion dollars’ worth of Ukrainian bonds, refuses to restructure Kiev’s debt and will wait for its maturity date due in December, a Finance Ministry official told Vedomiosti newspaper earlier this week.
Russia has every right to demand early repayment of the loan, as Ukraine's public debt now exceeds 60 percent of GDP (one of the conditions for the provision of funds was the sustainability of public debt).
Ukraine’s foreign debt is currently estimated at $50 billion and may amount to 93 percent of the country’s GDP already before this year is out.
The private creditors’ move may jeopardize the IMF-approved financial bailout plan, whereby Ukraine needs to save $15 billion on servicing its external debt before 2019.
Ukraine received the first tranche of IMF bailout funds in March and will receive the second it needs to restructure 29 bond issues.
