The Ukrainian Finance Ministry and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) insist on the quick adoption of a bill on financial restructuring, which will introduce a mechanism of voluntary financial restructuring of debtor companies to settle the issue of bad debts and renew lending by banks.
“Time matters here. We cannot drag this out. If the bill is adopted late this year, then every month of a delay solvent borrowers with temporary problems could become insolvent within a few weeks, facing the bankruptcy procedure,” he said.
NBU Deputy Governor Vladyslav Rashkovan said at a press conference that state-owned enterprises’ debts owed to banks could be an obstacle to their privatization.
“State-owned companies have accumulated large accounts payable, the debts are high and different, they can be a significant limitation on privatization,” he said without specifying the exact amount of the debt to the banks.
In his words, the banking system has a free resource estimated at over Hr 100 billion, including Hr 70 billion in deposit certificates issued by the NBU. At the same time, the banks will be very cautious when entering new lending projects in connection with the high level of bad debts.
