(Reuters) Ukraine will delay issuing a total of $1 billion of Samurai bonds and Eurobonds that it had been planning to launch this year, Finance Minister Ihor Mityukov said on Thursday.
'We have made the decision not to enter world markets with public issues,' Mityukov told journalists. He said crises on world financial markets made Ukraine decide against the move this year.
'The Eurobond market is practically non-existent right now,' Mityukov said. He added Ukraine had missed its opportunity to borrow on Japanese markets by one week. Ukraine earned a BB+ rating from Nippon Investor Service for an issue of $250 million to $500 million planned for this year. Ukrainian officials did not reveal results of other rating agencies, such as Standard and Poor's, which had graded Ukraine for this year's planned Eurobond launch. Mityukov said Ukraine would have to rely on the one-year $542 million Stand-By program agreed with the International Monetary Fund, which agreed to give $103 million for two delayed tranches on Wednesday. The program was signed in August.
Ukraine began borrowing on international capital markets in August with a $450 million privately placed note issue underwritten by Nomura International and issued on a fiduciary basis by Bankers Trust Luxembourg SA.
