Ukraine still hoping for Russian participation in debt swap: Minister

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine still hopes Russia will decide to take part in a critical debt swap by next week's deadline, after Moscow declined to participate in voting to approve the plan last week, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalia Yaresko said on Friday, October 23, according to Reuters.

"Right now through the 29th, our hope is that they will make a choice to participate in this restructuring," Yaresko told Reuters in an interview at a Ukrainian-German business conference in Berlin. "No better terms can be given to them so it makes every sense."

Ukraine agreed a debt exchange on October 15 with creditors, in order to plug a $15 billion funding gap under an International Monetary Fund-led $40 billion bailout program.

But Russia - which holds a $3 billion Eurobond included in the 14 sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed bonds earmarked for restructuring - has repeatedly said it will not participate in the process, arguing the debt has the status of an official loan as opposed to a commercial one.

Regarding other debt, Yaresko said it remained "a good bet" that Ukraine could access the bond market in 2017 as per the International Monetary Fund's plan, if it fulfils all of its commitments and pushes ahead with its economic reform plan.

She said she still expects Ukraine to receive another $4 billion in international loans "by the end of the year", provided the government meets all of its prior actions.