The aggregate state (direct) and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine in August 2018 decreased by 1.14%, or by $0.86 billion, to $74.85 billion, according to the website of the Ministry of Finance. In the national currency the state debt grew by 4.49% or UAH 91 billion, to UAH 2.117 trillion.
Since the beginning of the year, the aggregate state (direct) and state-guaranteed debt in U.S. dollar terms declined by 1.91%, or by $1.46 billion, in the hryvnia by 1.17%, or UAH 25.01 billion.
The Ministry of Finance said that public debt in August rose by 4.54%, to UAH 1.83 trillion (in dollars it decreased by 1.09%, to $64.71 billion), and external debt grew by 6.69%, to UAH 1.071 trillion (in dollars it grew by 0.94%, to $37.87 billion).
The state-guaranteed debt for the past month grew by 4.18%, to UAH 286.78 billion (in dollars it fell by 1.43%, to $10.14 billion), in particular external debt by 4.37%, to UAH 273.57 billion (in dollars it declined by 1.25%, to $9.67 billion).
The ministry said the principal amount of the national debt is denominated in U.S. dollars – 43.5%, another 30.24% in the hryvnia, 16.32% in special drawing rights, and 8.78% in euros. In addition, less than 1% of state debt is denominated in Canadian dollars and yen.
The official hryvnia exchange rate, using which the Finance Ministry calculates the debt, in August fell to UAH 28.28/$1 from UAH 26.76/$1, or 5.7%, while by the end of 2017 it was UAH 28.07/$1.
