Hetmantsev: 72% of state-owned enterprises in Ukraine are non-operational or “phantoms”
7 August 21:04
Most state-owned enterprises in Ukraine remain inefficient: 72.1% of them do not work or exist only formally. This was announced by Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, referring to the Accounting Chamber’s report on the activities of the State Property Fund in 2024, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to him, almost 70% of enterprises controlled by the SPFU started 2025 without approved financial plans. And the total wage arrears for 2024 increased by another 14% to UAH 685.5 million.
Financial results are also disappointing: most companies declare losses totaling UAH 6.45 billion. Against this background, the average cost of renting state property in 2024 fell by one third, and tenants’ debts to the budget reached UAH 409.3 million, of which almost 15% are uncollectible.
However, there is also a positive side: privatization proceeds in 2024 exceeded the plan by 2.5 times. The state received almost UAH 10 billion.
“This once again emphasizes how important it is to denationalize and restore order in the public sector,” Hetmantsev said.
The situation with state-owned enterprises: facts and figures
- As of 2023, there were 3,116 state-owned enterprises in Ukraine, of which only 27% were actively operating – approximately 854 companies. Only 15% of enterprises (475 companies) were profitable.
- Another 56% of enterprises did not operate, and 17% did not provide any reports at all.
The growing number of “phantoms”
- In 2018, there were 422 non-operating state-owned enterprises, and by 2023 there were 1,736, which is a fourfold increase.
Government steps: liquidation, privatization, triage
In 2024-25, the government developed a reform concept: to keep only about 100strategically important enterprises in state ownership, and transfer the rest to the State Property Fund (SPFU ) for privatization or liquidation.
The Verkhovna Rada passed draft law No. 9387, which allows the SPFU to self-finance the liquidation of non-operating enterprises without spending from the state budget.
