The total state (direct) and publicly guaranteed debt of Ukraine in February 2017 increased by UAH 10.34 billion or $550 million, to UAH 1.941 trillion or $71.76 billion, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.

According to the report, the public debt by the end of February amounted to UAH 1.666 trillion or $61.58 billion, in particular external debt stood at UAH 977.64 billion or $36.14 billion. The state-guaranteed debt was UAH 275.43 billion or $10.18 billion, in particular external debt was UAH 256.32 billion or $9.47 billion.

According to the ministry, the main reason for the increase in public debt in February was the capitalization of state-owned Ukreximbank, Oschadbank (both based in Kyiv) and PrivatBank (Dnipro).

As reported, the law on the national budget for 2017 set the limit of the state debt as of the end of 2017 at UAH 1.717 trillion and the maximum amount of the state-guaranteed debt at UAH 579.37 billion against UAH 1.501 trillion and UAH 444.78 billion at the end of 2016 in the law on the national budget for 2016