Ukrainians find themselves trapped in huge debts: microloans profit from people’s suffering

New data from a well-known service with open data for the population is available for everyone who monitors their finances.

As of last year, Ukrainians’ debt on microloans had almost doubled, and the average loan amount exceeded 6 thousand hryvnias.

The Opendatabot service provides this data.

The National Bank of Ukraine reports that in 2024, Ukrainians received 8.3 million microloans.

The total debt reached about 52 billion hryvnias, which is 27% more compared to 2023.

The average loan was 6,217 hryvnias. At the beginning of 2025, debt to microfinance institutions exceeded 15.77 billion hryvnias.

The average loan size also increased by 26% compared to the previous year, when Ukrainians borrowed an average of 4,926 hryvnias.

During the year, microfinance companies issued an average of 693 thousand monthly loans, peaking in the third quarter, when about 729 thousand were issued monthly. At the end of 2024, the volume of new loans decreased slightly to 691 thousand as citizens began to repay debts more actively.

According to analysts, Ukrainians took out new loans and accumulated debts. In the first three quarters of the year, debt increased from 9.3 billion to 18.47 billion hryvnias, but by the end of the year, it decreased to 2.7 billion.

“However, this did not improve the overall situation: debt to MFIs at the beginning of this year amounted to 15.77 billion hryvnias, which is 6.47 billion more than at the beginning of 2024,” Opendatabot noted.

We remind you that the situation with low gas reserves in storage facilities may justify increasing tariffs due to active imports.

Earlier, it was also reported about the possible consequences for schools, hospitals, and medical institutions in Ukraine and the projected increase in gas and electricity tariffs.