Twice as much as before the war: Ukrainians owe a colossal sum in microloans

Twice as much as before the war: Ukrainians owe a colossal sum in microloans

As of April 1, 2025, Ukrainians’ debts for microloans reached 24.28 billion UAH. This is twice as much as at the beginning of the full-scale war in April 2022. 

According to Opendatabot, in just the first quarter of 2025, the debt increased by 4.3 billion UAH or 22%.

"Over 2.17 million loan agreements were signed by Ukrainians with microfinance organizations (MFOs) in the first quarter of 2025. This is 8% more than in the same period last year. The total amount of such agreements amounted to 12.72 billion UAH," the study states. 

However, despite the increase in the number of loans, the average loan amount decreased for the first time in two years - by 2% compared to the same period last year and now stands at 5,858 UAH. Previously, the average check only increased.

On average, Ukrainians signed 724,000 agreements per month, slightly more than last year’s figure of 693,000 per month.

Opendatabot noted that, according to updated data from the NBU, Ukrainians’ debts did not decrease by 2.7 billion UAH, as reported in previous reports, but instead increased by 1.4 billion UAH at the end of 2024. Overall, for 2024, the debt doubled - by 10.7 billion UAH.

According to statistics, 63% of microloans are taken for a term of 93 days to 1 year. The share of such agreements has almost not changed. At the same time, the number of long-term microloans - from 1 to 2 years - increased 15 times. Their share currently stands at 3.6%. Short-term loans (up to 31 days) also became more popular: their share increased from 14.5% to 24%. However, the share of loans for a term of 32 to 92 days decreased more than fivefold, from 16.5% to 3%.