Ukrainians owe UAH 24 billion in microloans

Ukrainians take out more than 700,000 microloans every month, and the total debt to MFIs has already reached more than UAH 24 billion, twice as much as at the beginning of the great war. At the same time, for the first time in two years, the average loan size has slightly decreased.

This is evidenced by data from the monitoring service Opendatabot.

In the first three months of 2025, Ukrainians took out more than 2.17 million microloans, which is 8% more than in the same period in 2024. The total amount of loans amounted to almost UAH 13 billion, according to updated data from the National Bank of Ukraine.

For the first time in two years, the average amount of one microloan has slightly decreased - by 2% compared to last year. It now amounts to UAH 5,858, although previously the amount was constantly growing. In general, Ukrainians concluded an average of 724 thousand loan agreements per month, which is more than last year, when there were approximately 693 thousand.

As of early April 2025, the total debt to microfinance organizations reached UAH 24.28 billion. This is twice as much as in April 2022, at the beginning of the full-scale war. In the first quarter of this year alone, the debt increased by UAH 4.3 billion, or 22%.

Screenshot: Opendatabot

The NBU also clarified its previous data: it turned out that at the end of 2024, the debt did not decrease by 2.7 billion, as previously reported, but increased by 1.4 billion. Overall, in 2024, the amount of debt to MFIs doubled, increasing by UAH 10.7 billion.

Most often, borrowers take out loans for a period of three months to a year - 63% of such agreements. Their share has hardly changed. Instead, the number of long-term microloans - from one to two years - has increased 15 times, now accounting for 3.6% of all transactions. Short-term loans of up to 31 days have also grown in popularity: their share has risen from 14.5% to 24%. However, loans for 32-92 days became much less popular, with their share dropping from 16.5% to just 3%.

In 2024, Ukrainians took out almost 8.3 million microloans totaling about UAH 52 billion. Although the number of agreements remained almost at the level of 2023, the volume of loans disbursed increased by 27%, and the average loan amount exceeded UAH 6 thousand.

Анна Бальчінос