You're reading: Kuchma instructs Cabinet to deal with debts to Ukrtelekom

KYIV, Nov 23 – After meeting with Ukrtelekom board chair Stanislav Dovhy on Tuesday, November 21, President Leonid Kuchma instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to take measures to pay off the debt of budget organizations to Ukrtelekom, the president’s press service reported.

The elimination of this debt should make Ukrtelekom more attractive to investors when it is privatized.

The size of the debt of budget organizations to Ukrtelekom has not been revealed.

As Ukrainian News has already reported, last Wednesday, the Cabinet passed a resolution on the privatization of Ukrtelekom in November-December 2001.

The law on the privatization of Ukrtelekom that was passed by Parliament on July 13 secures 50 percent plus one share in state ownership and allows the sale of at least 25 percent of the company’s shares.

In the first nine months of 2000, Ukrtelekom made a profit of Hr 430.3 million. The net income of the company in this period was Hr 2.4 billion.

In 1999, Ukrtelekom made a balance sheet profit of Hr 717 million, providing customers with services worth Hr 2.7 billion, which was 20 percent more than in 1998.