The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development called privatization ‘one of the biggest failures’ in Ukraine
To accelerate economic growth and attract foreign investors, Ukraine needs to unblock the privatization process, stated the managing director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Francis Malige, reports Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Malige, the EBRD is still ready to provide technical support and, for certain targets, to act as a buyer of a minority stake. In particular, the bank may be interested in companies in the energy sector, as well as agricultural enterprises.
"There are still no results [of privatization]. And this is one of the biggest failures," Malige said.
According to the Managing Director, attempts to sell the Odessa port plant "with a known negative result borders on insanity," and a number of sales of blocking shares of energy companies in August this year were "far from international standards," to put it mildly, as they were actually conducted on a non-alternative basis.
"Such privatization is not in the interests of the state," the EBRD representative said.
In his opinion, the new government bill submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on privatization, as well as political will, could correct the situation.
Speaking about the volume of EBRD investments in Ukraine, the bank representative confirmed his desire to invest about 1 billion euros annually in projects in the country.
"Once the investment climate improves, we will do more projects. We want to invest 1 billion euros annually in Ukraine. But last year, unfortunately, there were only 600 million euros, and of course, the EBRD is not very happy about it," he added.
Recall that the energy community earlier called on Ukraine not to prohibit the privatization of the gas transport system.