Ukraine: Cancel foreign debt

Mar 28th 2022

Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said that the war has cost $564.9bn. This includes damaged infrastructure, lost economic growth, etc., and the cost will keep rising as the war goes on.

Already, about eight thousand kilometres of roads, and 10m square metres of housing have been destroyed or damaged. To put the numbers into context, eight thousand kilometres is roughly equal to the distance from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles and back. And 10m square metres is equal to 1.400 football (= soccer) fields.

On top of this, Ukraine has $129bn foreign debt. That is nearly 80% of GDP, and would be a crippling amount of debt for Ukraine, even without the ongoing war. But the damage from the war is already more than four times the debt, and since the war is not likely to end tomorrow, the damage will be much worse when this is over.

Cancelling the foreign debt would not end the war, but it would be a good way for the international community to show solidarity to Ukraine. $129bn is not a lot of money for the international community, but it is a lot for Ukraine.

Besides, I think it is a bit weird to give aid with one hand and collect debt, with interest, with the other. But maybe it is just me…

There’s an easy way to help Ukraine without military escalation: cancel its foreign debt