Despite market fears, Ukraine has paid $200M to GDP warrant holders.
Ukraine has paid about $200M to holders of its GDP warrants, securities that weren’t part of a recent $20B Eurobond restructuring agreement with private creditors. The warrants have disbursements linked to Ukraine’s economic performance, providing creditors with payments if gross domestic product expansion exceeds certain levels.
The payment comes after the finance ministry said in a statement in July that it intended to pay a consent fee in early August linked to $2.6B in outstanding warrants, as well as a deferred payment on notes from 2021. It also said it would “commit to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of holders of the warrants in any prospective future liability management or other treatment proposal.”
The government opted to transfer the money to warrant-holders despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signing into law on Wednesday a bill that allows Ukraine to defer payments on its foreign debt.
The finance ministry said the payment included a consent fee and $130.1M in interest and a deferred payment and interest based on 2021’s growth of $70.5M.