Page 51 - UKRRptJan21

Fitch rates Ukraine at B-​ on its foreign currency debt with no outlook indicated. The local debt is also rated at B- (none).
Fitch has become more cautious on Ukraine having removed its positive outlook call in December 2018. But the ratings have general recovered from Fitch “restricted default” rating in October 2015, following the Maidan events. The highest rating the country has had from Fitch was a BB- (positive) first awarded in May 2005 and again in October 2006, during a year-long investment frenzy when foreign banks bought up banks in the country believing the country was about to take off.
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) rates both Ukraine’s foreign and local debt at B-
with stable outlook.
S&P last upgraded Ukraine’s rating from Caa2 (positive) in August 2017. The rating nadir was Ca (negative) awarded in March 2015 following the Maidan events. Its zenith was B1 (positive) awarded in August 2008 at the apex of the region-wide boom.
8.5 ​Fixed income
The Finance Ministry raised all its hryvnia bond yields above 10% on December 17 and succeeded in selling six times more paper than one week earlier. ​At the auction, hryvnia bond yields went up by 11 basis points to 30 basis points, according to a Finance Ministry post on Facebook. To draw demand the Ministry also offered a full range of six hryvnia bonds — 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 4 years and 5 years.
This strong increase was delivered via massive FX debt placements by the Ministry of Finance. Overall, MinFin borrowed a net of $2.6bn in December.
Offering government bonds of 10 different tenors and two different currencies, the Finance Ministry raised the equivalent of $782mn on December 22​ at its weekly bond auction, the Ministry reports on Facebook. Hryvnia bonds started with 10% yields for 3-month bonds and ranged up to 12.25% yields for 5-year bonds. The Ministry sold 1-year dollar bonds with yields of 3.8%, netting $138.5mn. The big bond sale follows the December 15 sale, which netted $1.8bn – the largest on record, the Ministry reports.
Foreign holdings of Ukrainian government hryvnia bonds increased by 6.8% ​in mid-December as foreigners joined the government record auction of $1.8bn in equivalent of bonds on December 15. After nine months of unbroken decreases, foreign participation reversed with a 2.4% increase in the December 8 auction. Foreigners now hold $2.9bn the hryvnia bonds, or 8.6% of the total, reported the National Bank of Ukraine.
51​ UKRAINE Country Report​ January 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com