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Spotlight switches back to the debt burden in Ukraine

Even if the Ukrainian government rides out popular protests against its decision to turn away from the EU, the sovereign and state gas company debt repayments due in 2014 will challenge its financial position.
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Spotlight switches back to the debt burden in Ukraine

As Ukrainians took to the streets late in 2013, protesting against their president's decision not to sign an association agreement with the EU, politics quickly took centre stage and problems with the economy were forced back on to the margins. But as tempers cool, the state of the Ukrainian economy is coming back into the spotlight, with many observers worried about the country's ability to repay its debt.

The street protests sent the cost of insuring against default on Ukraine's debt soaring. On November 22, after president Viktor Yanukovych's announcement that his country would not sign the EU association agreement, but before the Vilnius summit at the end of the month – during which the agreement was meant to have been signed – the spreads on Ukraine's five-year credit default swaps (CDS) were 995 basis points (bps).

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