Fixed Income
Ukrainian Eurobonds were on the rise last week thanks to optimism that the country may finally be within reach of passing the second review of its IMF lending program, which would also unlock several other Western financial assistance programs. The IMF said that a meeting of its Executive Board on Ukraine has been scheduled for later this month. The statement came out after Ukraine’s government finally launched electronic declaration for officials’ income and assets, which is viewed as one of the key elements in fighting corruption in the country. In another important development, the Finance Ministry properly paid the coupon of some USD 500mn on Ukraine’s sovereign Eurobonds as scheduled on Sept 1 (according to last year’s restructuring, the coupons on all of the country’s 9 bond issues are lumped on the same date). A significant reduction of violence levels in Donbas declared by the OSCE international monitoring mission also helped to improve the overall Ukrainian risk profile.
