The Ministry of Economy became seriously concerned about the preservation of state property and developed a draft government resolution on the procedure for reorganization, liquidation, and restructuring of state enterprises. With the entry into force of this document, any movement of assets of companies that occupy a monopoly position in the market, or those that are of strategic importance for the country's economy, will be carried out only with the permission of the Cabinet of Ministers. As explained to "Ytro" in the ministry, the document should eliminate the gaps in the Economic Code and the law on privatization of state property, which provides for obtaining government permission for the restructuring of large enterprises only for their pre-privatization preparation. Therefore, uncontrolled manipulations with the assets of companies that are not subject to sale often lead to a change of owner and the loss by the state of its share in these enterprises.
As some analysts say, the latest initiative of the Ministry of Economy has become another stone in the garden of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), whose responsibilities include issuing such regulatory acts. The ministry's initiative is conditioned by the tense relations of the SPFU with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance. The heads of these departments, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Viktor Pynzenyk, accusing the country's chief privatizer Valentyna Semenyuk of actual inaction, say that the department she heads is sabotaging the filling of the budget. The ministers base their accusations on the refusal of the SPFU head to put large state enterprises up for sale, the privatization of which, in the government's opinion, should save the budget from an increase in the deficit.
In response to this, the SPFU head advised her opponents to "increase the efficiency of state asset management and increase profit from them, rather than advocate for a total sell-off." Commenting on the situation to "Ytro," she emphasized that "the budget deficit is better covered by increasing external borrowings." However, the ministers hold a directly opposite point of view. Speaking with "Ytro," the finance minister did not restrain his emotions. "One cannot increase the state's debts. Everything must be sold, to hell with it," Pynzenyk cut short.
Judging by everything, his position is also shared by the head of the "temporary" government, Yuriy Yekhanurov, who throughout his tenure as prime minister also failed to establish good relations with Semenyuk. But unlike his subordinate, he was more restrained in his emotions. "In the first quarter of this year we prescribed a meager plan for the Fund, the SPFU fulfilled it, so there can be no claims against it. But in the next quarter there will be no such indulgences. That's when we'll see — if the plan is not fulfilled, we will make personnel decisions," he explained his position to "Ytro." At the same time, he emphasized that "the Ministry of Economy should more actively join the work in the sphere of state property management. And that it will join, I promise."
Some analysts believe that a real threat of radical reorganization hangs over the State Property Fund, which may begin with staff reductions. And the reason is not only the latest disputes of the SPFU head with members of the government. Before this, the Cabinet of Ministers repeatedly reproached Semenyuk for the absence of a state property register, which she promised to create but never kept her promises. Although she regularly received money from the budget for its creation. Another reason is the poor organization of state asset management. According to the official conclusion of the Accounting Chamber, last year the SPFU did not participate in shareholders' meetings of companies in which the state has a share of stocks. Analysts also do not rule out that the latest "attack" of the Ministry of Economy on the SPFU is conditioned by the ministry's desire to "trim" part of the Fund's powers and pull them onto itself. An indirect proof of this may be the recent transfer to the ministry of additional powers taken away from some state committees.