KYIV, Dec 20 - Ukraine can afford a gradual increase in public debt from 52.3% of GDP in 2021 to about 60% of GDP by 2024-2025, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, believes.

"Based on the analysis of debt risks above, in order to accelerate economic growth, Ukraine may well afford to gradually increase the size of its public debt from 52.3% of GDP in 2021 to about 60% of GDP by 2024-2025, remaining in this debt range for the next five years, as provided by the Budget Code," he wrote in a column for Ukrinform.