NON-PERFORMING LOANS DURING WAR-INDUCED SHOCKS AND THEIR REGULATION IN UKRAINE IN THE CONTEXT OF EU INTEGRATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35774/jee2026.03.656Keywords:
Bayesian ARDL, European integration, lagged effects, macroeconomic instability, non-performing loans, Ukraine’s economy, wartime shocks.Abstract
Key macroeconomic determinants of non-performing loan (NPL) dynamics under war-induced shocks and Ukraine’s ongoing adaptation of its banking sector to European Union (EU) regulatory standards have been identified. The analysis employs a Bayesian autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model estimated using 79 quarterly observations over the period 2006–2025, allowing the integration of probabilistic parameter estimation with a dynamic lag structure under conditions of multiple structural breaks. The results reveal statistically and economically significant lagged effects of real GDP growth, the consumer price index, the National Bank of Ukraine’s policy rate, and average wages on NPL dynamics. The military shocks of 2014 and 2022 exert pronounced but temporally differentiated impacts on the NPL accumulation, reflecting distinct phases of banking sector stress and institutional adaptation. The findings provide policy-relevant approaches to enhancing banking sector resilience through harmonisation with EU standards and to mitigating systemic credit risks in the course of Ukraine’s post-war recovery.
JEL: C11, E44, E52, G21, H56, P24.
References
Ahiase, G., Andriana, D., Agbemava, E., & Adonai, B. (2024). Macroeconomic cyclical indicators and bank non-performing loans: Does country governance matter in African countries? International Journal of Social Economics, 51(1), 62–80. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0729
Anastasiou, D., Louri, H., & Tsionas, M. (2019). Nonperforming loans in the euro area: Are core–periphery banking markets fragmented? International Journal of Finance & Economics, 24(1), 97–112. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1651
Anita, S. S., Tasnova, N., & Nawar, N. (2022). Are non-performing loans sensitive to macroeconomic determinants? An empirical evidence from banking sector of SAARC countries. Future Business Journal, 8, Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-022-00117-9
Apergis, N. (2022). Convergence in non-performing loans across EU banks: The role of COVID-19. Cogent Economics & Finance, 10(1), Article 2024952. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2021.2024952
Ari, A., Chen, S., & Ratnovski, L. (2021). The dynamics of non-performing loans during banking crises: A new database with post-COVID-19 implications. Journal of Banking & Finance, 133, Article 106140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2021.106140
Baiashvili, T., & Frewer, G. (2016). Ukraine: Neighbourhood SME financing [Report]. European Investment Bank. https://www.eib.org/en/publications/econ-neighbourhood-sme-financing-ukraine
Bakır, M. R., Çetin, M. A., & Bakırtaş, İ. (2025). Revisiting the macroeconomic determinants of non-performing loans with a deep learning technique with causal inference: Evidence from Türkiye. Borsa Istanbul Review, 25(3), 541–551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bir.2025.02.006
Bank of Greece. (2024, April 25). Financial Stability Review: April 2024 (Press Release). https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/news-and-media/press-office/newslist/news?announcement=3f017a78-d1a0-4dd6-b67b-2422e69a94cb
Bazhenova, Y. (2023). Effects of banking sector cleanup on lending conditions: Evidence from Ukraine (Working Paper No. HEIDWP06-2023). Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, International Economics Department, The Graduate Institute Geneva. https://repec.graduateinstitute.ch/pdfs/Working_papers/HEIDWP06-2023.pdf
Bykova, A., & Pindyuk, O. (2019). Non-performing loans in Central and Southeast Europe (Policy Notes and Reports No. 32). The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies. https://wiiw.ac.at/non-performingloans-in-centraland-southeast-europe-dlp-4962.pdf
Chan, J. C. C. (2019). Large Bayesian vector autoregressions (CAMA Working Paper No. 19/2019). SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3334717
Christodoulou-Volos, C. (2025). Determinants of non-performing loans in Cyprus: An empirical analysis of macroeconomic and borrower-specific factors. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 15(1), 190–201. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.17398
Dempsey, D., & Wyse, J. (2026). Bayesian variable selection in distributed lag models: a focus on binary quantile and count data regressions. Communications in Statistics – Simulation and Computation, 55(6), 2023–2039. https://doi.org/10.1080/03610918.2025.2458578
Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. (2023). Ukraine 2023 Report (SWD(2023) 699 final). European Commission. https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/ukraine-report-2023_en
European Banking Authority. (2018). Final report: Guidelines on management of non-performing and forborne exposures (EBA/GL/2018/06). https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/10180/2425705/371ff4ba-d7db-4fa9-a3c7-231cb9c2a26a/Final%20Guidelines%20on%20management%20of%20non-performing%20and%20forborne%20exposures.pdf
European Parliament & Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on preventive restructuring frameworks, on discharge of debt and disqualifications, and on measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt, and amending Directive (EU) 2017/1132 (Directive on restructuring and insolvency). Official Journal of the European Union, L172, 18–55. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L1023
European Union. (2025). Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part. Official Journal of the European Union,L161. https://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/2014/295/2025-10-29
International Monetary Fund. (2023). Ukraine: 202 3 Article IV Consultation, Second Review under the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility, and requests for modification of performance criteria and a waiver of nonobservance of performance criterion – Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Ukraine. IMF Staff Country Report, 2023(399). https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400261398.002
Karadima, M., & Louri, H. (2021). Determinants of non-performing loans in Greece: The intricate role of fiscal expansion (GreeSE Paper No. 160). London School of Economics and Political Science. https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/110741/
Kravchuk, I. (2024). Business models of Ukrainian banks: The impact of the Revolution of Dignity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s military aggression. Comparative Economic Research. Central and Eastern Europe, 27(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.18778/1508-2008.27.07
Kripfganz, S., & Schneider, D. C. (2023). ardl: Estimating autoregressive distributed lag and equilibrium correction models. The Stata Journal: Promoting Communications on Statistics and Stata, 23(4), 983–1019. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X231212434
Laeven, L., & Valencia, F. (2020). Systemic banking crises database II. IMF Economic Review, 68(2), 307–361. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41308-020-00107-3
Louzis, D. P., Vouldis, A. T., & Metaxas, V. L. (2012). Macroeconomic and bank-specific determinants of non-performing loans in Greece: A comparative study of mortgage, business and consumer loan portfolios. Journal of Banking & Finance, 36(4), 1012–1027. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2011.10.012
Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine. (2019). Ohliad VVP u IV kvartali 2019 roku [GDP overview, Q4 2019; in Ukrainian]. https://me.gov.ua/file/6ac5a1ae-321d-40c4-b4f7-b6090231ffbe
National Bank of Ukraine. (2010). Annual Report 2009. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/richniy-zvit-natsionalnogo-banku-ukrayini-za-2009-rik
National Bank of Ukraine. (2017, August 11). Natsionalnyi bank zvituie pro dva roky reform: vid vyrishennia problem mynuloho do rozvytku finansovykh rynkiv maibutnoho [The National Bank reports on two years of reforms: from resolving problems to developing future financial markets; in Ukrainian]. https://bank.gov.ua/ua/news/all/nbu-zvitue-pro-dva-roky-reform
National Bank of Ukraine. (2018, March 30). NBU revises calculation of some economic ratios due to introduction of IFRS. https://bank.gov.ua/en/archivenews/all/67153474-nbu-revises-calculation-of-some-economic-ratios-dueto-introduction-of-ifrs
National Bank of Ukraine. (2020). Annual Report 2019. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/richniy-zvit-natsionalnogo-banku-ukrayini-za-2019-rik
National Bank of Ukraine. (2023a). Financial Stability Report, December 2023. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/zvit-pro-finansovu-stabilnist-gruden-2023-roku
National Bank of Ukraine. (2023b). Power banking: Annual report 2022. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/richniy-zvit-natsionalnogo-banku-ukrayini-za-2022-rik
National Bank of Ukraine. (2024). NBU and IFC strengthen partnership to boost financial sector resilience and develop lending in Ukraine. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-ta-mijnarodna-finansova-korporatsiyapogliblyuyut-spivpratsyu-dlya-zmitsnennya-finansovogo-sektoru-ta-rozvitkukredituvannya-v-ukrayini
National Bank of Ukraine. (2025). Annual Report 2024. https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/richniy-zvit-natsionalnogo-banku-ukrayini-za-2024-rik
National Bank of Ukraine. (n.d.-a). Loan Portfolio Quality (NPLs) [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://bank.gov.ua/en/stability/npl
National Bank of Ukraine. (n.d.-b). NBU key policy rate [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://bank.gov.ua/en/monetary/archive-rish
National Bank of Ukraine. (n.d.-c). Financial sector statistics [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://bank.gov.ua/en/statistic/sector-financial
Natsiopoulos, K., & Tzeremes, N. G. (2024). ARDL: An R package for ARDL models and cointegration. Computational Economics, 64, 1757–1773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-023-10487-z
Pension Fund of Ukraine. (n.d.). Dani pro rozmir serednyoyi zarobitnoyi platy dlya obchyslennya pensiyi [Data on the average wage used for pension calculation; in Ukrainian] [Data set]. Web portal information page. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://www.pfu.gov.ua/statystyka/pokazniki-serednoyi-zarobitnoyi-plat
Plikas, J. H., Kenourgios, D., & Savvakis, G. A. (2024). COVID-19 and non-performing loans in Europe. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 17(7), Article 271. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm17070271
Ramskyi, A., Loiko, V., Sobolieva-Tereshchenko, O., Loiko, D., & Zharnikova, V. (2017). Integration of Ukraine into the European banking system: Cleaning, rebooting and Basel III. Banks and Bank Systems, 12(4), 163–174. https://doi.org/10.21511/bbs.12(4-1).2017.05
Salas, M., Lamothe, P., Delgado, E., Fernández-Miguélez, A. L., & Valcarce, L. (2024). Determinants of nonperforming loans: A global data analysis. Computational Economics, 64(5), 2695–2716. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10614-023-10543-8
State Statistics Service of Ukraine. (n.d.-a). Sotsialno-ekonomichne stanovyshche Ukrainy (2006-2016) [Socio-economic situation of Ukraine; in Ukrainian] [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://www.ukrstat.gov.ua/druk/soc_ek/2016/arh_2016_u.htm
State Statistics Service of Ukraine. (n.d.-b). Quarterly national accounts [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://stat.gov.ua/en/datasets/quarterly-national-accounts
State Statistics Service of Ukraine. (n.d.-c). Main indicators. Consumer price indices [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://stat.gov.ua/en/publications/main-indicators
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. (2020). Zakon Ukrainy “Pro vnesennia zmin do deiakykh zakonodavchykh aktiv Ukrainy shchodo udoskonalennia mekhanizmiv rehuliuvannia bankivskoi diialnosti” (No. 590IX) [Law of Ukraine “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the improvement of banking regulation mechanisms”; in Ukrainian]. The Official Bulletin of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2020(40) https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/go/590-20
Vyshnevskyi, I., & Sohn, W. (2023, December). Nonperforming loans and related lending: Evidence from Ukraine. Emerging Markets Review, 57, Article 101069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ememar.2023.101069
Wilson, A., Chiu, Y. H. M., Hsu, H. H. L., Wright, R. O., Wright, R. J., & Coull, B. A. (2017). Bayesian distributed lag interaction models to identify perinatal windows of vulnerability in children’s health. Biostatistics, 18(3), 537–552. https://doi.org/10.1093/biostatistics/kxx002
World Bank. (n.d.). Bank nonperforming loans to total gross loans (%) [Data set]. Retrieved May 22, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FB.AST.NPER.ZS
Zawadzki, A. (2023). Macroeconomic determinants of credit risk on the example of non-performing loans. Central European Economic Journal, 10(57), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2023-0016
Received: January 5, 2026.
Reviewed: July 15, 2026.
Accepted: August 28, 2026.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).



