Ukraine buys debt relief, bringing some good news

After five months of talks with private creditors and the unpredictable consequence of a debt moratorium looming, Ukrainian finance minister Natalie Jaresko triumphantly announced on August 27 that she had achieved a write-down of up to $3.8 billion of the nation’s debt.

In addition to securing a 20 per cent write-down on $19 billion worth of government eurobonds, Ukraine obtained a four-year freeze on principal payments from a group of bondholders that own about half the government’s sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed debt.

Chicago native Jaresko managed to get the debt rolled over into nine new bonds that will be repaid in equal amounts each year starting in 2019, with a coupon of 7.75 per cent. “Less of the government’s scarce financial resources will be spent servicing high debt levels taken on by previous governments,” the finance ministry said in a statement. “And more will be available for critical social spending and national defense.”

To read the full story, visit The Kyiv Post.

(Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2015. Photo: World Economic Forum/flickr.com)

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