Ukraine is preparing to sell off major state-owned companies, including utilities and steel mills, at bargain prices to shore up its aid-dependent budget and end decades of post-communist corruption and mismanagement that have crippled the economy, Bloomberg reports, according to News.ro.

If the measure is approved by parliament, Ukraine could get more than $400 million, at best, by selling utilities and steel companies, as well as a fertilizer producer and an insulin producer. Another 190 million dollars can come from the lease of agricultural land, said the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (PFMU) Rustem Umerov in an interview with Bloomberg.

How Ukraine is trying to convince foreign investors

He acknowledged that few people would want to invest in a country at war, but urged potential investors to think of Ukraine as a future investment that could turn out to be 20 times more profitable than it seems now.

“If we don’t sell them this year, then next year the value of the companies will be only in real estate, and next year it will be possible to capitalize only the land on which they are located,” Umerov admitted.

Among the companies that can be privatized are ammonia producer “Odesa Port Plant”, titanium producer “United Mining Plant” and “Zaporizhsky Titanium-Magnesium Combine”, insulin producer “Indar” and PJSC “Centrenergo”.

Thus, Ukraine is looking for investors who are brave enough to bet on the fact that it will be able to repel the Russian invasion, and for this it has a simple language: high risk can offer high reward, writes Bloomberg.

“There are emerging markets and there is an extraordinary market, and as an extraordinary market we are unique,” Umerov said.

The 41-year-old official is the eighth person to head the FSMU since the overthrow of the pro-Russian government of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. A difficult task awaits him. None of his predecessors managed to achieve the goal of selling off large parts of the state’s economy. The two appear to have committed suicide while the former president is being investigated for embezzlement, which he denies, Bloomberg reports.

The Russian invasion complicated the situation. Almost every Ukrainian lost a friend, relative or acquaintance as a result of violence. The war has driven more than a quarter of the country’s 40 million people from their homes and destroyed entire sectors of the economy, wiping out producers in occupied territories such as eastern Donbas and the port city of Mariupol.

How much the government expects to get from the sale of state-owned companies

While the government expects to receive 6 billion hryvnias ($162 million) from the sale of state-owned companies this year, Umerov says it could potentially receive four times that if the sale-and-leaseback plans go ahead. they will be able to move on. This depends on parliament, which must first approve legislation that would allow the privatization of large companies and the leasing of state-owned agricultural land. Deputies divided into two camps – for and against.

If the parliament cannot pass the necessary laws, the alternative for the state is to turn to joint ventures with other state-owned companies to ease the burden on state finances, Umarov explained.

Another source of potential income is the capture of Ukrainian companies connected to Russia, he added. An example is Russian-controlled Sense Bank, one of Ukraine’s largest lenders, which the government wants to nationalize.

Despite the unprecedented obstacles, Umerov noted that Ukraine has another advantage: the solidarity of investors and allies who want to support the country in expelling Russia from its territory.

Follow the latest events of the 421st day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.