Yanukovych: Ukraine has enough money to service foreign debt

16:24, 27.11.2013 1 min read

Ukraine has enough funds to service its foreign debt, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"We have already prepared the funds for external obligations," he said in an interview with leading TV channels broadcast on Wednesday.

He said that next year Ukraine must pay $3.7 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This autumn, all three leading rating agencies downgraded Ukraine's credit ratings, pointing to the risks associated with the deterioration of the balance of payments, a decline in international reserves, the lack of IMF funding and limited access to the international borrowing market.

According to Fitch, the country has to pay $8.2 billion next year, with its international reserves being $20.6 billion at the end of October 2013. In the absence of new borrowing and the current balance of payments, this may lead to a reduction of reserves by the end of the first quarter of 2014 to $15 billion and by the end of the year to $ 5 billion.