"It's a good song. Let's sing it again." This is about what we can
say about the next turn in the privatization saga - to sell enterprises
for domestic bonds, instead of money.
Recall that such a peculiar use of "unpromising" domestic bonds was
suggested by the government, which owes Hr 3 billion to domestic and converted
domestic bondholders. This measure was also included in the list of anti-crisis
measures. Then, the SPF chairman, the major supporter of the monetary privatization,
Oleksandr Bondar, declared that in principle he is ready to carry out special
privatization auctions from January 1, 1999, where the enterprises' stock
will be sold for domestic bonds instead of money, but only if the legislative
basis is regulated and corresponding changes in the privatization program
for 1999 (and the long-suffering draft budget for 1999 -author) are made.
The program has not yet passed.
"These are interesting authorities we have," Parliamentary Privatization
Commission Chairman Oleksandr Riabchenko told The Day. "First they
promise to gather solid sums by monetary sale of objects, but then they
try to introduce another kind of payment, which looks like compensation
certificates." The actual reason for this innovation is, Riabchenko believes,
"there are a lot of domestic bonds in some rich hands, and something has
to be done with them." Moreover, the commission chairman believes that
specialized auctions will be carried out according to the voucher auction
scheme, in other words, "a narrow circle of people will know the purchaser
before the auction is announced." Riabchenko links Bondar's assent to pressure
from the Presidential Administration. As a result, the SPF chairman was
forced to pretend he is obedient, though, according to Riabchenko, he is
quite sure the Parliament will not let them sell enterprises for paper.
Incidentally, Riabchenko is certain the government's intent here is not
serious, because there was not even a single government session behind
closed doors, where this problem could be discussed.
In other words, after failing with domestic bonds, the government suspects
bond conversion is not enough for stabilization, but is still has no clue
of what to do. In this context the Bondar's comment is interesting: "The
SPF solves more and more of the state's financial problems." Recall that
Bondar also said a few weeks ago, "I think we will live to the time, that
the SPF will be responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine." What
is it? A joke? A slip of the tongue? A premonition?






