Number of state-owned companies in Ukraine to decrease 30-fold — Svyrydenko
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers plans to cut the number of
state-owned companies from over 3,000 to around 100, as part of the state
ownership policy, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia
Svyrydenko said in a column for Interfax-Ukraine on
Dec. 9.
The relevant document outlines the criteria for a company to
remain state-owned. These include fulfilling public needs for certain services
(e.g., Guaranteed Buyer), protecting national interests (e.g., Energoatom,
Ukroboronprom), ensuring affordable prices (e.g., Ukrposhta, Ukrzaliznytsia),
or being a natural monopoly (e.g., Ukrenergo).
“The policy involves triage — analyzing all state assets and
categorizing them: those that will remain state-owned, those to be privatized,
or those to be liquidated,” she said. “The government plans to reduce the
number of state-owned companies to about a hundred, down from more than 3,000
today.”
The goal of this optimization, according to Svyrydenko, is
to increase the efficiency of state-owned companies, boost their contribution
to the economy, and reduce the government’s budget expenditures on maintaining
them.
“Adopting this policy is not only a necessary step in the
reform process but also part of Ukraine’s international commitments,” she noted.
“It serves as an indicator of Ukraine’s plan for the Ukraine Facility and a
marker in the IMF memorandum. The policy aligns Ukraine’s state ownership
system with the updated OECD guidelines.”
According
to the Ministry of Economy, the state ownership policy includes:
- Clear definition of sectors where the state should maintain
its presence;
- Optimization of the state asset portfolio, which includes
privatizing or liquidating non-strategic enterprises;
- Implementation of modern corporate governance standards based
on OECD principles, including the establishment of independent supervisory
boards;
- Mandatory criteria for forming supervisory boards;
- Plans to improve efficiency, preserve, and increase the
value of assets;
- Reporting rules and setting objectives for state-owned companies;
- Rules for organizing management, distributing functions, and
allocating powers between state authorities and companies.
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