In 2016, the Ukrainian government was removed from the management of the largest state-owned enterprises. Instead of the state, they are led by the so-called “independent supervisory councils”, to which people were appointed by ambassadors of foreign states.
“Supervisory boards should be formed in the largest state-owned companies: … if the size of your assets is UAH 2+ billion per year, and your revenue exceeds UAH 1.5 billion, you definitely need a supervisory board! There are only 41 companies of this kind in Ukraine,” she wrote in In 2016, then still the first deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade Yulia Kovaliv.
“Ukrposhta”, “Ukrenergo”, “Ukrzaliznytsia” and almost fifty other state-owned companies got out of the control of the Cabinet of Ministers and ministries. This decision was explained by the fact that Ukrainian managers are illiterate and thieves. In exchange for losing control, the state was promised no corruption, enterprise development, and profits.
Four years later, the story of the “independent supervisory councils” looks like one big hoax. Space salaries of members of supervisory boards did not affect the work of companies in any way. On the contrary, the same “Ukrzaliznytsia” has lost a huge market share. “Naftogaz”, despite the increase in tariffs for the population by 7 times and hundreds of billions of hryvnia from the budget, remained unprofitable. At the end of 2020, the losses have become simply total.
In fact, only one thing has changed – who gives the orders. Previously, state-owned companies were run by officials who acted in the interests of political groups of influence. Now they are run by supposedly independent managers who act in the interests of donor countries.
The failure of the corporate reform was superimposed on the outspoken unprofessionalism of Zelensky’s team. And if the president is not supposed to be a pro, then amateurs in the government are something fundamentally new. They have not only failed in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. The budget indicators have failed, the national debt is growing violently.
As for the largest state-owned companies, in 2020 they became unprofitable:
– NNEGC Energoatom – minus UAH 4.8 billion (in 2019 – plus UAH 3.77 billion);
– NEC Ukrenergo – minus UAH 27.5 billion (in 2019 – plus 1.86 billion);
– Naftogaz Group – minus UAH 37 billion (in 2019 – UAH 63.3 billion);
– Ukrzaliznytsia – minus UAH 11.9 billion (in 2019 – plus UAH 2.99 billion).
And it’s not about COVID-19. They were brought to the handle by non-professional officials of the Cabinet.
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