MP: Ukraine's national debt doubled since start of war

Since February 2022, Ukraine’s public debt has more than doubled and at the end of last year exceeded $145 billion, according to Ukrainian MP Danylo Hetmantsev.

“At the end of 2023, the public debt exceeded 5.5 trillion hryvnia ($145.6 billion – ed.), having doubled since the beginning of the war,” Hetmantsev wrote on his Telegram channel, Gazeta.Ru reports.

According to the MP, in 2023, in foreign currency equivalent, the public debt increased by 30.4 per cent, adding $33.9 billion, and the ratio of public debt to GDP was about 85 per cent.

In 2022, the proportion was 78.4 per cent, in 2021 - 48.9 per cent. The greatest influence on the growth of debt was the receipt of preferential loans from the European Union in the amount of €18 billion.

In addition, Ukraine received loans under the programs of the IMF, World Bank and EBRD.