The amount of upcoming payments on external debts horrified Ukrainian experts
It is believed that between 2018 and 2020 Ukraine must pay about $16 billion in foreign debts, but in fact it will have to pay much more.
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Economic expert Viktor Skarshevsky stated this at a press conference in Kyiv, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“$16 billion is an optimistic figure. Ukraine must pay much more in the next three years. This amount did not include foreign currency bonds and payments to state-owned companies. This adds up to another 6 billion. That is, Ukraine must pay not 16, but 22 billion dollars in the next three years. There are no expense items yet that will arise either in 2018 or next year. And this means additional payments of another 6,5 billion,” the expert said.
According to him, this additional amount consists of two billion dollars that Naftogaz of Ukraine is obliged to pay to Gazprom for previous supplies of natural gas, according to the decision of the Stockholm arbitration, as well as payments on Russian bonds in accordance with the verdict of the High Court of London.
In addition, with a high degree of probability, a new item of expenditure will appear in the Ukrainian budget - $1,5 billion of so-called confiscation money from Yanukovych’s former entourage.
“All the companies from which these bonds were confiscated have already filed suit in the European courts. And they have an advantage over the Ukrainian authorities because they carried out the confiscation in a very illegal way. Now let’s summarize - we were told about 16 billion, but in fact, in the next three years Ukraine will have to pay 29 billion dollars. This burden falls on us, taxpayers - all these debts will be returned from taxes, from our pockets,” Skarshevsky summed up.
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