Ukraine to start debt restructuring after talks with IMF — economy minister

Ukraine intends to return to financial markets in 2017 after restructuring its sovereign debt, the country’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius told French Les Echos daily in an interview published on Thursday.
"The Ukrainian government chose the Lazard bank as an advisor in talks on restructuring its sovereign debt," Abromavicius said. "As soon as talks with IMF [International Monetary Fund] on financial aid are completed, Ukraine will launch negotiations with its creditors on debt restructuring. Our aim is to return to financial markets in 2017," the economy minister added.
Abromavicius also touched upon the issue of the current situation in the Ukrainian economy.
Earlier this week, Moody’s agency has downgraded Ukraine’s long-term issuer and government debt rating to Ca from Caa3 with a negative outlook. "The key driver of the downgrade is the likelihood of external private creditors incurring substantial losses as a result of the government's plan to restructure the majority of its outstanding Eurobonds," Moody’s said. "Ukraine's government and external debt will remain at very high levels even if these [economic, budget/debt and monetary] reforms are successful, and despite the lower debt levels achieved by the external debt restructuring," the agency noted.
"Everyone knows that Ukraine is going through the period of economic difficulties. Apart from that, it is in the complicated military situation, as ceasefire is still unstable. It lost a part of its territory and its industries," Abromavicius said.
The minister said that economic growth in Ukraine will fall by 5.5% in 2015, after a decline by 6.9% over the last year. Along with that, inflation will reach around 30%, he added.