The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is ready to assist Ukraine’s State Property Fund in privatizing small state assets through provision of both credits and consultation.
The EBRD’s deputy resident representative in Ukraine Marina Petrov announced this at a meeting between representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) and the State Property Fund’s Chairman Dmytro Sennychenko on November 27, the CFTS portal reports.
Addressing representatives of the ACC, Petrov noted that good information about the assets that could be offered for sale on the ProZorro electronic auction platform is currently unavailable. "This will be work for members of the association, who will take at least 20-30 companies and properly prepare information so that there is something to show on the ProZorro... The State Property Fund needs to be helped to formulate this request properly so that we can try to raise money for the request and then there will be a business opportunity for various companies to participate in such a tender," Petrov said.
She recommended starting with a small pilot project, which would be joined by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: “We would suggest starting with a pilot project that is not very large to make the procurement procedure simpler. Establish several companies and see how it works. If it works well, then it will be easier to raise additional funding. Help the State Property Fund to formulate the technical specifications... Set a realistic task – 5-10 companies maximum. If such a request is formulated, we are ready to take it to our donor committee, try to raise money, and hire an additional adviser specifically for the first small-privatization pilot projects."
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred a number of state assets to the State Property Fund for privatization on November 26. "We transferred an additional 76 state enterprises to the State Property Fund for privatization for privatization today. In total, 415 out of the 500 state enterprises that are scheduled to be transferred to the State Property Fund by the end of the year have already been transferred. If privatized, up to UAH 6 billion in budget revenues could be generated,” Prime Minister Oleksii Honcharuk said on November 26.
The list of assets that were transferred to the State Property Fund for privatization includes 28 previously controlled by the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The parliament adopted the draft law No. 1054-1, which abolished the list of state-owned companies not subject to privatization, including Ukrzaliznytsia and the Ukrposhta postal company, on October 2. According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the law lifted the ban on privatization of more than 60 rail transport enterprises and infrastructure, which became part of the Ukrzaliznytsia joint-stock company as a result of its reorganization in late 2017.
