The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has won the Risk Awards 2023 in the nomination Sovereign Risk Manager of the Year from the internationally recognised Risk.net.
This was due to the effective work of the Ministry of Finance team in the field of public debt management and continued active cooperation with investors in Ukrainian assets in the context of a full-scale war.
A few days after the start of the full-scale invasion, the first auction of military bonds was held. Thanks to the weekly auctions of domestic government bonds, the state budget raised more than USD 7 billion as of the end of 2022. In addition, in August 2022, an agreement was reached with investors to extend the maturity of all 13 series of government Eurobonds and postpone coupon payments for two years, saving about USD 6 billion to finance Ukraine's priority needs. These measures, together with concessional financing from allied countries and international organisations, allowed Ukraine to stabilize its financial system and prevent a liquidity crisis.
In their comments for Risk.net, Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management Yuriy Butsa and Head of Investor Relations of the Ministry of Finance Alla Danylchuk spoke about Ukraine's debt management in the context of a full-scale war, cooperation with investors in Ukrainian assets and resources for Ukraine's recovery.
The agreement we reached with investors in Ukraine's sovereign Eurobonds last August is the fastest deal ever reached between a sovereign and creditors. The reason is that we maintained constant contact with investors throughout the war and took into account the feedback we received before deciding to launch the transaction.
Yuriy Butsa, Ukrainian Government Commissioner for Public Debt Management
Borys Matiash, CEEMEA Debt Capital Markets Director at BNP Paribas, commenting on the award, said that the goodwill (business reputation) that Ukraine had earned over the past few years by cooperating with investors had been a key factor in reaching an agreement with investors last year: "It has helped Ukraine mobilize financial resources quickly and efficiently, with broad support from the investor community, and free up budgetary resources when they are needed most. This enables the country to continue to function and rebuild the infrastructure for a prosperous future for the people of Ukraine."
"Our relationships with investors are extremely important to us, so we have done everything possible to remain accessible to them," commented Alla Danylchuk. "We did not want to lose all the trust we have gained with investors over the years because of Russian aggression."
