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Ukrainian Ministry of Finance

Navigating critical, multilateral negotiations to achieve historic debt restructuring

Conflict, inflation and fallout from the global economic crisis in 2015, left Ukraine facing economic collapse. The country needed a new debt restructuring deal, but first it had to build global confidence in its financial institutions and leaders. The nation turned to APCO to orchestrate a global outreach campaign, bringing debt-holders to the negotiating table and helping secure a debt-restructuring deal which saved Ukraine US$3.8 billion and rescued the country from economic collapse.

Categories & Services

# Reputation & Brand Management# Advocacy Campaigns# Corporate Communication# Crisis, Issues & Litigation# Financial

CHALLENGE

Following the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution and the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, commodity price deflation left Ukraine’s new government facing a potential economic crisis. The Ministry of Finance and its new finance minister, Natalie Jaresko, urgently needed to make the case to the world that the country deserved both International Monetary Fund support and the chance to restructure its debt to avoid economic collapse. APCO partnered with the Ministry to provide counsel and help navigate these delicate financial negotiations.

SOLUTION

APCO knew we needed to strike a fine balance between highlighting Ukraine’s importance and need, while not driving negative market sentiment which would only make a bad situation worse. Our strategy was to quickly build Minister Jaresko’s profile as a credible and authoritative international stateswoman and foster a network of influential third-party allies. We launched our outreach at the World Economic Forum at Davos and supported Minister Jaresko over the following 10 months of complex financial negotiations, supporting the minister in multilateral and bilateral meetings with key international political and financial leaders. We also regularly briefed major U.S. and European financial and political news outlets to continue to drive the narrative and create urgency in the matter.

 

IMPACT

By increasing positive, top-tier media coverage of the economic situation in Ukraine and raising the international profile of both Ukraine and Minister Jaresko, APCO helped shape the views of influential stakeholders around the world. We engaged international private sector creditors, bringing them to the negotiating table and ultimately helped Minister Jaresko secure a very favorable debt-restructuring deal, averting the risk of economic collapse and saving the nation US$3.8 billion.