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Ukrainian Opposition Party Says State Oil Company Bankrupt

Posted on: Saturday, 4 March 2006, 18:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Interfax-Ukraine news agency

Kiev, 4 March: The Ukrainian government intends to raise the price of gas by 50 per cent from 1 April, the [opposition] Party of Regions has said in a statement issued at its ninth congress.

The statement was made public by the party's press service today.

The party also has documented proof that "it took the national oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny just one year to go bankrupt, as its budget is short of 2bn hryvnyas [about 0.4bn dollars]", the statement says.

The price of gas for residential consumers will be raised by 50 per cent from 185 to 277.5 hryvnyas per 1,000 cu.m. of gas from 1 April. The same increase is imminent for budget-financed institutions (schools, hospitals, kindergartens and so on). Another price rise is planned for 1 September, as a result of which the price of gas will double, the statement says.

Furthermore, the authorities want to set a 100-per-cent surcharge for all consumers having no gas meters, the statement says.

The authorities intend to exempt Naftohaz Ukrayiny from paying taxes, VAT in particular, and also to "allow it not to pay for transit of gas through Ukraine". "These privileges will cost the Ukrainian budget 15bn hryvnyas in unpaid funds!" the statement says.

[Passage omitted: The party demands a probe into the company.]

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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