Saturday, May 12, 2018

Ukraine approves list of state-owned enterprises for privatization | KyivPost

Ukraine approves list of state-owned enterprises for privatization | KyivPost: "Jump-starting a process that has been stalled for more than two years, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on May 10 approved a list of 26 large state-owned companies for privatization. The sale of the state’ stakes in the large companies is expected to bring in Hr 21 billion, or $800 million, to the budget this year- seven times more than privatization raised in in 2017. In addition, the government also approved a “general” list of more than 700 enterprises that are to be privatized over the next three years, Economy Minister Stepan Kubiv wrote in a Facebook post on May 10."

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This isn't fooling the public, though: "According to a sociological survey conducted by the Center for Economic Strategy in November of last year, 80 percent of Ukrainians think that only oligarchs will benefit from the sale of state-owned enterprises." Privatization in neighboring was a massive transfer of trillions of dollars from the government to a small number of people who became known as the oligarchs, and they helped to turn the country into a kleptocracy.