Ukraine wants to increase state borrowing by one third in 2013
2012-12-05 17:59:56
The Ukrainian government has forecast that government borrowing to the general fund of the national budget for 2013 will amount to UAH 129.4 billion, which is one third or UAH 32.4 billion up on the target for 2012, reads an explanatory note to the draft national budget for 2013 posted on the parliament's Web site on Tuesday.
According to the document, foreign borrowing will be increased by 12.8%, to UAH 36.5 billion, and UAH 33.6 billion ($4 billion) will be obtained via the placement of eurobonds.
Borrowing on the domestic market will grow by 43.7%, to UAH 92.9 billion.
The government said that total payments on the state debt in 2013 are evaluated at UAH 116.1 billion, including UAH 47.6 billion on foreign debts.
Payments on servicing the state debt are to climb by 18.3% compared to the target for 2012, to UAH 35 billion, and payments on the principal debt will expand by 24.5%, to UAH 81.1 billion. UAH 12 billion will be paid on interest on foreign debts and UAH 35.6 billion will be paid on the principal of the foreign debt.
In addition, it is expected that UAH 6.1 billion will be raised for the special fund of the national budget from international financial organizations to finance economic development and budget projects.
Taking into account the said data, the government predicts that the size of direct state debt as of late 2013 will be UAH 483 billion (30.6% of GDP), which is 14% up on the indicator set for the end of 2012. The cabinet said that the share of foreign debt of the sum would be 48.7%.
According to the draft national budget for 2013, the average annual hryvnia exchange rate to the U.S. dollar in 2013 will be UAH 8.30/$1, and as of late 2013 it will stand at UAH 8.40/$1. The official exchange rate as of December 4, 2012, stood at UAH 7.9930/$1 and the exchange rate on the interbank currency market was UAH 8.18/$1.
The government's draft budget for 2013 is based on the forecast of GDP growth of 3.4% and inflation of 4.8%. It foresees an increase in the budget deficit in 2013 by 30%, to UAH 50.4 billion, a reduction in revenues by 3%, to UAH 361.5 billion, and a reduction in expenditures by 1%, to UAH 410.7 billion. Revenues from privatization are anticipated at UAH 10.9 billion.
The documents on the draft also contain data on the forecast payments on the state debt for upcoming years. According to the documents, in 2014 they will grow by 16%, to UAH 136 billion, while in 2015 the growth will be 9.6%, to UAH 149.1 billion. A slight fall will be seen in 2016 – by 2.4%, to UAH 145.5 billion, and in 2017 – by 6.6%, to UAH 135.9 billion.
According to the State Treasury Service, the borrowing target for 2012 of the national budget of UAH 98.4 billion was over-fulfilled: as of December 3, 2012, UAH 102.6 billion was received, including UAH 38.8 billion from foreign borrowing.