From meisenscher@igc.org Sun Mar 12 12:28:22 2000
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 23:24:05 -0600 (CST)
From: Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@igc.org>
Subject: Ukraine On Chopping Block, IMF Demands Its Pound Of Flesh
Organization: PACH
Article: 90975
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Ukraine 2000 State Sell-Offs Raise $27 Mln To Date
Reuters, 1 March 2000
(Ukraine, which has raised 1.507 million hryvnias [national currency, roughly six to a dollar] from cash sell-offs since 1992, plans to boost privatization revenues to 2.5 billion hryvnias this year to help pay crushing foreign debt obligations….Privatization is a key part of a $2.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan frozen in September 1999….)
KIEV, Mar 1, 2000—(Reuters) Ukraine, which has set ambitious privatization targets for this year, has raised 150 million hryvnias ($27.29 million) from cash sell-offs so far this year, the State Property Fund said on Tuesday.
Olexander Bondar, who heads the fund, told a meeting with regional media the government would raise another 91 million hryvnias from privatizing a stake in leading steel mill Zaporizhstal in the next few days.
“We are lagging behind our schedule but we shall do everything to meet the target,” Bondar said, adding that the planned figure for the first quarter was 500 million hryvnias.
Ukraine, which has raised 1.507 billion hryvnias from cash sell-offs since 1992, plans to boost privatization revenues to 2.5 billion hryvnias this year to help pay crushing foreign debt obligations of $3.1 billion due this year.
Privatization is a key part of a $2.6 billion International Monetary Fund loan program frozen in September 1999 over stalled reforms and ahead of a presidential election.
Bondar said the fund hoped that privatization in key energy, metallurgical, chemical and telecom sectors would help meet the target. The fund plans to sell stakes in some 3,000 large companies this year.