Rada Cancels List Of State Companies Not Subject To Privatization

The parliament has adopted the draft law No. 1054-1, which cancels the list of state-owned companies that are not subject to privatization, including the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia) and the Ukrposhta postal company.

The draft law was adopted by 250 votes, the CFTS portal reports.

The law includes a provision that prevents state-owned enterprises from being bankrupted, imposes a moratorium on seizure of their property because of debt, and prevents initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against them for three years.

According to the text of the document, the government must draft a list of strategic enterprises in which the state cannot sell controlling stakes and submit the list to the parliament for consideration within three months of the law entering into force.

The draft law also removes the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia) and the Ukrposhta postal company from the list of companies that are not subject to privatization.

"The parliament has adopted the draft law No. 1054-1 on cancelation of the list of companies that are not subject to privatization. Ukrposhta and Ukrzaliznytsia have been removed from the list. This does not mean that they will be auctioned off, but this is a convincing signal that it will be possible to generate money into the state budget and that investors will be able to upgrade the enterprises," Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklyi wrote on Facebook.

“The state will retain at least 50% + 1 share in strategic assets, but they will be able to work actively to find strategic investors. Who knows, it could be one of the largest e-commerce giants or international financial organizations,” he added.

The list also includes a number of enterprises in the port industry, particularly state stevedoring companies and the Azov shipyard.

As reported earlier, the issue of exclusion of this shipyard from this list has been raised for several years. In spring 2019, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade prepared a new privatization concept for the period of 2018-2020, which provided for exclusion of the Azov shipyard from the list of companies that are not subject to privatization after amendment of the law. This concept is one of Ukraine’s commitments under its cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund.