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restructured in 2015 (maturing on September 1 of each year, 2020-2027). Ukraine is scheduled to pay $1.6bn on its international debt obligations by the end of 2020, MinFin reported.
The IMF has yet to set a date for the review of the Standby Agreement, a review that was to be in September. IMF Ukraine representative Goesta Ljungman tells Hromadske that while “discussions on the implementation of the parameters and indicators of the liquidity program are ongoing, the date of the IMF mission on the first revision of the program has not yet been determined.” Ukraine received in June a first $2.1bn tranche of what is to be a $5bn loan program.
Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Bohdan Danylyshyn has said that the receipt of two tranches from the International Monetary Fund in 2020 is unrealistic and called for a revision of the conceptual framework for cooperation.
The Rada ratifies a memorandum of understanding between Ukraine and the EU for €1.2bn of pandemic-related financial assistance, according to the results of August 24 extraordinary session. The agreement is to be the largest tranche of EU funds directly disbursed to Ukraine, according to Prime Minister Shmygal. The first tranche fo $600mn is due in the near future.
The Rada signs off on a European Investment Bank program worth €450mn to help Ukraine’s big road building program, according to the government. The Bank says: “The financing will increase safety and help modernize parts of the network included in the extended Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T), which links the country internationally and to the EU in particular.”
Ukraine’s Finance Ministry has repurchased about 10% of outstanding GDP-linked securities (GDP warrants, UKRAIN’40), according to its Aug. 14 announcement on the Irish Stock Exchange. The ministry stated it has no current intention to resell these securities. Ukraine's debt management strategy for 2019-2022 “includes pro-active liability management operations in order to smoothen Ukraine's state debt service profile”, the ministry wrote. Based on this strategy, the ministry might continue purchasing its debt securities, including the GDP warrants. Recall, Ukraine’s GDP-linked securities were issued in 2015-2016 for the total nominal amount of $3.24bn in exchange for written-down Ukrainian sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt of the same size. The securities offer annual payments in May of 2021-2040 in case Ukraine’s real GDP growth two years before exceeds 3.0%.
The Finance Ministry provides this x-ray of who bought the $2bn Eurobond that settled at the end of July: US – 48%; UK – 38%; and EU – 13%. The investors were: asset management funds – 81%; hedge funds – 13%; banks – 4%; and pension funds – 2%.
Ukraine’s natural gas company Naftogaz Group remained the biggest taxpayer in the country after it transferred UAH77.9bn ($2.8bn) to the state and local budgets in January-July 2020, including UAH39.6bn of remaining dividends for 2019, the company said in a press release on August 12. Payments by Naftogaz now account for 17% of total state budget revenues receipts for the period of in January-July 2020, the company said. “Naftogaz Group remains Ukraine’s biggest taxpayer. In 2019, Naftogaz Group’s tax and
40 UKRAINE Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com
