Ukraine parliament approves debt restructuring deal

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament on Thursday approved three laws needed to pass a debt restructuring deal that the country's international backers have described as essential for its financial stability.

The International Monetary Fund's multi-billion-dollar bailout program hinges on Ukraine finding $15 billion through a deal with its creditors.

"This is a victory for Ukraine," parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groisman said after the ballot.

Lawmakers debated the laws heatedly before the vote, but in the end the bills were passed comfortably, with over 300 'yes' votes for each law compared with the 226 minimum required, prompting a rise in bond prices.

"Voting 'yes' means voting for economic growth, foreign investment, increasing the number of jobs and a rise in social standards," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told parliament.

Over the past few days the government has conducted a fierce lobbying campaign to persuade lawmakers to back the deal, which aims to cut Ukraine's debt to 71 percent of annual economic output (GDP) by 2020 from an estimated 100 percent now.

Some members of parliament have said the agreement provides insufficient debt relief for Ukraine, which was brought to the brink of bankruptcy by years of economic mismanagement, corruption and a conflict with pro-Russian separatists.

"We have to vote for this disgrace through tears," former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said.

Ukraine's dollar-denominated bonds rose as much as 1.2 cents after the laws were passed.

Nomura analyst Tim Ash said the strong majority indicated support for the pro-EU reform agenda and the IMF program.

"Even with concerns as to whether this deal is good or bad, if it turns ugly, Ukraine can always come back to the table further down the line to renegotiate terms," he said in a note.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice; Additional reporting by Karin Strohecker and Sujata Rao in London; Editing by Larry King/Ruth Pitchford)

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