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Auctions of state or communal farm land will now take place openly through electronic auctions conducted on the Internet, under a bill adopted on May 18 by the Rada. “Anyone with a computer and Internet access will be able to take part in the auction,” (Interfax-Ukraine). “According to the ministry, the winners of the bidding will be those who offer the highest price per lot.” Plot sizes are limited to 20 hectares and buyers are limited to Ukrainians.
Of the 109 companies managed by Ukraine’s defence Ministry, 20 state companies are to be liquidates, 15 are to be reorganized and three are to be prepared for privatization, Deputy defence Minister Ihor Khalimon tells Interfax-Ukraine. By the end of this year, he has predicted that the number of companies under the defence Ministry will be cut to 42.
6.2 Debt
Ukraine’s state and state-guaranteed debt declined 1.3% m/m to $91.3bn as of April 30, the Finance Ministry reported on May 26. State foreign debt jumped 3.9% m/m to $45.1bn, while state domestic debt declined 1.3% m/m to $36.3bn. State-guaranteed debt declined 0.7% m/m to $9.9bn.
In UAH terms, the overall state debt increased 0.8% m/m in April to UAH2,534bn, or 60.4% of Ukraine’s GDP in 2020.
The jump in the state foreign debt was due a 8Y Eurobond placement for $1.25bn in late April. The domestic debt declined as the redemption of local bonds significantly exceeded the receipts from newly placed bonds during the month.
The lower growth of debt in UAH terms was mostly due to a 0.5% appreciation of the national currency.
The state debt is likely to decline slightly in May as the redemption of local bonds would exceed the receipts from new placements by $0.2bn.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance increased its forecast of total public debt (domestic and external) payments this year by 5%, or UAH3.34bn, to UAH602bn ($21.8bn), the Ministry said on May 13, as cited by Interfax Ukraine.
In particular, payments during the peak redemptions due in October-December was increased by UAH1.9bn to UAH119.9bn. Ukraine has a heavy redemption schedule this year with $11bn worth of debt from a total of circa $16bn coming due in the fourth quarter.
Analyst worry that the government will struggle to meet those payments, without tapping the currency reserves, if the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) $5bn Stand By Agreement (SBA) is not restarted in the summer. There is still two tranches of $700mn and $2.2bn outstanding but the SBA programme is due to expire at the end of this year. Analysts believe there is a good chance a deal on the $700mn tranche could be done before September, but are not optimistic that the third tranche will be released before the programme expires.
41 UKRAINE Country Report XXXX 2018 www.intellinews.com