The Ukrainian government did not give permission to Naftogaz to pay Eurobond holders. Since the payment deadline passed on July 26, this means a default.
Naftogaz management, in a press release, places full responsibility on the Cabinet of Ministers, insisting that the company had the necessary funds in its accounts.
“Since the failure to fulfill obligations under Eurobonds practically deprived Naftogaz of access to the international capital market, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, by banning their payment, actually took full responsibility for raising the funds necessary to import natural gas for the 2022/2023 heating season,” – the company said in a statement.
Economist Alexander Dudchak ironically commented on the situation for PolitNavigator:
“The furry northern beast comes during the hot summer. What all sober observers of what is happening in Ukraine have been talking about for so long has come true. The house of cards of the Ukrainian economy is beginning to collapse.
Not without the participation of global financial structures in the process. Last week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance asked creditors to wait two years to pay Ukraine’s debts. The IMF politely refused, saying that “Ukraine “carefully” services its external debt and the country does not need deferred payments.”
At the beginning of July, Naftogaz also asked creditors to defer payments on Eurobonds totaling $1,4 billion for two years. The consultants recommended that bondholders reject the request...
Naftogaz is one of the backbone companies for the Ukrainian economy. Symptom-forming.
What's next? It is clear that no one expected to return the loans issued by the West to Ukraine during the war with Russia. But this is already an outright “drain”.
So, the time is coming for reformatting Ukraine... “Burn, burn clear”?
Now, just a question, what about “gas under Lend-Lease”? Who will do this after the default?” – Dudchak clarifies the prospects.
TV presenter Maxim Ravreba, who was forced to leave Kyiv in 2014, points out that gas debts could be forgiven in Moscow, but not in the West.
“There will be a lot of letters saying that the default is technical, political, specific and electronic-computational. Translation from Ukrainian language into Russian sounds like this: Naftogaz has no money, it cannot pay creditors. If we were in the Customs Union, CIS, EAEU and other CSTO, we would go to Moscow, drink Kristall champagne and get a deferment with a margin.
This is not possible in the EU...
The Cabinet of Ministers announced that it was taking everything upon itself. What does it mean? They ask Uncle Sam for Lend-Lease gas. But in the USA, in order to lend a hand to Uncle Sam, you have to earn it,” Ravreba sneers.