Ukraine's gross foreign debt amounted to $136.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013, which is equivalent to 76.9% of GDP, according to a report published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

"The growth of foreign debt in the first quarter of 2013 by $1.2 billion was caused by the improved access for domestic borrowers to global capital markets amid their high liquidity," reads the report.

External liabilities of the sectors of general public management and monetary regulating authorities have shrunk by $700 million since the beginning of the year, to $31.5 billion. The debt of these sectors in relation to GDP declined from 18.3% to 17.8%.

The NBU said that the growth of the foreign debt of the sector of general public management to $27.5 billion (15.5% of GDP) was triggered by the additional placement of government bonds in 2012 (for $1 billion) with the simultaneous planned repayment of stand-by loans from the IMF ($800 million).

In the first quarter of 2013, the foreign debt of monetary regulating authorities declined to $4 billion as a result of the NBU's scheduled payments worth $700 million to repay the IMF loan.

The foreign debt of Ukraine's banking sector in the first quarter of the year remained virtually unchanged and as of April 1, 2013 it amounted to $21.9 billion (12.3% of GDP). In the first quarter of 2013, Ukrainian banks again placed eurobonds on foreign markets for $1.2 billion. However, banks continued to reduce their external obligations under long-term loans (by $1 billion in the first quarter of 2013).

Ukrinform