The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine obtained from privatisation of state-owned assets UAH188.92mn ($7mn) or 1.1% of the UAH17.1bn ($627.5mn) plan set in the 2016 budget, the government agency said on January 23.
The Ukrainian government was not able to creat necessary conditions for domestic and foreign investors despite pledges to conduct major privatisations of state-owned assets, including power plants, ports, coalmines, agricultural firms, and horse- and fish-breeding farms.
The privatisation drive failed even though the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country's main donor that agreed a $17.5bn support programme with Kyiv in 2015, had insisted on the implementation of an "ambitious privatisation and restructuring agenda".
In December, the Ukrainian authorities failed to sell via a second tender a 99.567% stake in Odesa Port Plant (OPP), the giant chemical plant located on Ukraine's southern Black Sea coast.
The new tender flopped despite the SPF more than halving the plant's starting price to UAH5.16bn ($200mn) following the first failed privatisation attempt in July. A successful sale was regarded as a centrepiece of Ukraine's privatisation process and essential to winning confidence of cautious foreign investors.
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