Bloomberg: Russia war triggers record wave of East Europe bond sales

Eastern European countries have begun to turn more often to international debt markets for loans as financial problems grew in the face of the energy crisis.

They’ve borrowed nearly $32 billion already this year, triple the amount from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

For the first time in a dozen years, three eastern European countries — Poland ($9 billion), Romania ($6 billion) and Hungary ($5 billion) — register among the top five emerging-market borrowers in overseas markets.

“For Ukraine’s closest neighbours, the financial toll of the 14-month-old war is piling up. Energy subsidies are being doled out, armies built up and Ukrainian refugees housed, schooled and fed. To help pay those bills, Eastern European governments are tapping international debt markets like never before,” the article says.

The loans are needed by the regional states to finance subsidies for the purchase of energy resources and the strengthening of their own armies. Additionally, the money is needed to provide adequate assistance to numerous Ukrainian refugees who were forced to flee the country after the conflict with Russia escalated.