Ukraine's state debt grows to a new maximum

State and state-guaranteed debt of Ukraine as of the end of August 2026 amounted to UAH 9.60 trillion, or $215.55 billion. Over a month, its hryvnia volume increased by UAH 30.44 billion, but at the same time the average cost of debt servicing decreased.

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reported this.

State external debt accounts for UAH 7.34 trillion, or 76.45% of the total portfolio. Domestic state debt amounts to UAH 2.00 trillion, or 20.86%.

At the same time, state-guaranteed debt continues to shrink. At the end of August, its volume stood at UAH 257.81 billion, and its share in the overall debt portfolio dropped to 2.68%—the lowest level over the period shown by the Ministry of Finance. Since the beginning of the year, guaranteed debt has decreased by UAH 18.87 billion, or 6.8%.

The main part of the debt is preferential loans

About 64.6% of state and state-guaranteed debt consists of long-term preferential loans from international financial organizations and governments of other countries. Their total volume is estimated at UAH 6.20 trillion.

The largest creditor of Ukraine remains the European Union. Including financing under the ERA mechanism, the EU accounts for UAH 3.76 trillion, or 39.2% of the entire debt portfolio.

Separately, the Ministry of Finance notes that the ERA loan of UAH 931.1 billion is to be repaid not directly from the state budget, but from other sources, in particular revenues from frozen Russian assets.

Since the beginning of 2026, total debt in hryvnia equivalent has increased by UAH 560.21 billion. At the same time, about UAH 329 billion of this increase is attributed by the Ministry of Finance to exchange rate revaluation of foreign currency obligations. The real increase in debt occurred mainly through long-term preferential financing from international partners.

Cost of servicing continues to decline

The weighted average rate of state debt at the end of August stood at 4.37%. In July it was 4.40%, at the beginning of the year 4.51%, and in August 2025 it was 4.87%.

The average maturity of the debt is 13.05 years. For comparison, a year ago it was 12.50 years.

The cheapest is external debt, a significant part of which is formed by preferential loans from partners. Its weighted average rate is 1.95%, and the average maturity is 15.29 years.

Domestic debt remains significantly more expensive: its average rate is 13.2%, and the maturity is 5.31 years.

By type of rates, 71.35% of the debt is serviced at a fixed rate, and the other 28.65% at a floating rate.

Ministry of Finance postpones part of payments for three years

In August, the Ministry of Finance held 12 auctions for the placement of domestic government bonds (OVDP) and raised UAH 18.08 billion.

In addition, on August 26 a switch auction for UAH 15 billion took place. Investors exchanged bonds maturing on September 30, 2026 for a new issue with maturity on August 15, 2029 and a yield of 12.61% per annum.

Thus, the Ministry of Finance postponed part of the nearest payments by about three years, reducing peak burden on the budget in autumn 2026 and extending the maturity of domestic borrowings.

According to: Ministry of Finance of Ukraine