Ukraine is suffocating under the weight of unsustainable debts
Next year, the Ukrainian commercial sector needs to pay off $51 billion in foreign debts.
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This figure was announced at a press conference in Kiev, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, by former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Viktor Suslov, who noted that over the 10 months of 2017, the country’s external debt increased by $3,8 billion.
“It is appropriate to recall that the external debt of the commercial sector, which is overdue, has increased by $20,7 billion over the past two years. This means that a huge number of our commercial banks and industrial enterprises are not only unable to pay their debts, but are also overdue by 20 billion. This creates a potential huge demand for currency, which has led and will continue to lead to large corporate defaults in the Ukrainian economy,” the economist noted.
He also noted that the amount of short-term debt that must be paid by the end of the third quarter of next year remains at $51 billion.
“It is generally impossible to pay them; we have no reserves. It is clear that this amount has debts from financial industrial groups to offshore companies, and there are other debts, but still, the data that I cited earlier shows that the problem with debts is becoming catastrophic. And in this regard, the devaluation of the hryvnia is inevitable, it has already begun and will continue. References to the fact that this is a seasonal devaluation look completely naive. Seasonally in the fall, leaves fell from the trees. But to say that debts began to grow seasonally is no, this is the result of all previous policies,” Suslov summed up.
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