Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s national debt has increased by 102%, said the Ministry of Finance.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, state and state-guaranteed debt amounted to UAH 5.5 trillion ($145 billion). Roughly 70% of this figure represents external debt, while the remaining 30%, or UAH 1.67 trillion ($43.6 billion) is domestic debt.
Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance and Taxes said in Telegram that the biggest impact on the debt growth in 2023 was the receipt of 18 billion EUR of macro-financial assistance from the EU.
“The growth of the national debt was also influenced by the receipt of loans under the IMF, World Bank, EBRD, and Canadian government programs,” Hetmantsev added.
He also said that, as in 2022, the largest share of the growth in total public debt in 2023 was an increase in external debt. The remainder was due to domestic government bonds.
Hetmantsev stated that expenditures on public debt servicing in 2023 amounted to 8.2% of general fund expenditures of the state budget, compared to 6.5% in 2022 and 12.4% in 2021.