Ukraine’s billionaires gathered more wealth in 2016 and added another person to their ranks, the new Forbes World’s Billionaires ranking published on March 20 shows.
It’s not just in Ukraine where the rich are becoming richer. The total number of billionaires in 2017 grew by 233 people, to hit a record number of 2,043, according to Forbes. Their total net worth rose by 18 percent to $7.67 trillion, also a record. The change in the number of billionaires — up 233 since the 2016 list — was the biggest in the 31 years that Forbes has been tracking billionaires globally.
In Ukraine, richest man Rinat Akhmetov doubled his wealth compared to last year’s estimate, to $4.6 billion, placing him 359th in the overall ranking.
Earlier this year, however, Akmetov’s metal and coal business in the Donbas suffered problems – initially because of a blockade by activists and military veterans of supplies to and from the separatist-held part of Donbas, and later due to the expropriation of his plants by separatists.
So Forbes estimates Akhmetov’s net worth has fallen to $4.4 billion since the ranking was compiled in February.
Ukraine’s next-richest citizen Gennady Bogolyubov increased his wealth by $1.4 billion, which is $100 million than last year, while his business partner Ihor Kolomoisky lost $200 million in 2016.
Kolomoisky’s current net worth is estimated at 1.1 billion, according to Forbes.
Both Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky belong to the Privat business group, which at the end of 2016 lost its core business Privatbank. The government decided to nationalize the largest Ukrainian bank in December due to its lack of liquidity.
Yuriy Kosyuk, whose wealth is based on agricultural businesses, increased his wealth by $200 million in 2016 to the current $1.2 billion. A former deputy head of the President Petro Poroshenko’s administration, Kosyuk shared the 1,678th place in the world’s billionaires ranking with Kostyantyn Zhevago.
Zhevago, whose business is based on mining, returned to billionaires ranking in 2017, after dropping out in 2015. He is the CEO of iron-ore producing company Ferrexpo, which does its business in Ukraine but is headquartered in Switzerland.
Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, wasn’t so lucky in 2016. His net worth, based predominantly on steel production assets, decreased by $100 million to the current $1.1 billion.
The combined wealth of the six Ukrainian billionaires is $10.6 billion, which is a third of the nation’s entire state budget, more than twice the amount of Ukraine’s defense spending in 2017 and more than four times its national health budget.
