KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine has completed its debt restructuring program, issuing new bonds to creditors by financing 13 bond issues of the country's debt, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry revealed on Friday.
"The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine is glad to announce that it has concluded restructuring its government debt and guaranteed loans across 13 government bond and guaranteed Eurobond issues," a ministry statement said.
The statement announced the finalization of Ukraine's month-long debt restructuring process during which its creditors agreed to a 20 percent write-off of it's $15 billion outstanding external debt. The move is to save Ukraine over $8 billion over the next four years, according to a ministry statement in late October.
Ukraine's $3 billion Eurobond debt to Russia was borrowed by the previous government of Ukraine, under then-President Viktor Yanukovych, in late 2013.
Russia has requested early repayment of the debt after Ukraine exceeding the 60 percent debt to GDP level, as per the conditions of the deal, according to Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Ukraine's total government debt reached an all-time high in 2014, exceeding 70 percent of the country's GDP.
