Translated material
The Rada allowed the Ukrainian government to introduce a moratorium on the payment of external debt
The Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill giving the government of Ukraine the right to impose a moratorium on the payment of external debt.
The bill was approved a few hours after it was submitted by the government to parliament.
The right to impose a moratorium on the payment of external debt has been granted to the government of Ukraine for a period up to July 1, 2016.
256 people's deputies voted for such a decision (bill number 2898).
- Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk, explaining the need to adopt a bill on imposing a moratorium on the payment of external debt, said that the Cabinet of Ministers plans to achieve a restructuring of such debt on its own terms. Speaking in the Rada, Yatsenyuk stressed that we are talking about private creditors.
- At the same time, the bill itself and the message on the website of the government of Ukraine did not say that the moratorium would apply only to private creditors. The document only specifies that the right to introduce a moratorium will not apply to the debt obligations of Oschadbank, Ukreximbank and Ukrainian Railways.
- At the same time, during the discussion of the bill in the Rada, some deputies said that it would enable the government of Ukraine to get Russia's consent to debt restructuring. At the end of 2013, the Russian Federation purchased Ukrainian Eurobonds for $3 billion.
- We are talking mainly about payments on external government bonds and loans from state-owned enterprises taken during Viktor Yanukovych's rule. According to Yatsenyuk, about $40 billion was borrowed during this period.