Ukraine highly likely to default on its external commercial obligations – Reuters

International agency S&P has downgraded Ukraine’s foreign currency credit rating from “CCC” to “CC”. The further outlook is negative, the probability of default on external commercial obligations is assessed as very high. This was reported by Reuters.

“Given the significant damage to physical and human capital, Ukraine’s medium-term economic outlook is characterised by a high degree of uncertainty,” S&P wrote in the report.

The agency said that its outlook on Ukraine’s debt rating is negative and the country is highly likely to default on its external commercial obligations. Given these factors, S&P downgraded Ukraine’s foreign currency credit rating to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC’.

S&P predicts that Ukraine will soon start formal negotiations with private creditors on debt restructuring. According to plans, the process should be completed by mid-2024.

Earlier, the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada committee for national security, defence and intelligence, Yegor Chernev, said that the latest financial tranche of 250m dollars from the USA showed that there were problematic aspects in the support of Ukraine by the United States.