Ukrainian business has numerous problems due to the war and can only plan its activities for a few weeks in advance. The main goal of the industry is to survive, keep the teams and stay afloat. In this situation, the intention of Ukrzaliznytsia to increase the freight tariff by 37% will lead to greater losses and the closure of enterprises.
This was stated by the head of the Project Office of Metinvest, Oleksandr Vodoviz, reports RBC-Ukraine.
“Tariffs are now rising everywhere – for electricity transmission, water supply, and gas transportation. State monopolies are raising tariffs in order to fully shift their growing costs onto consumers. But businesses that produce products and provide services at market prices are the ones that pay taxes, and it is from taxes that we can finance defense. Therefore, the state must make a choice. If the state is ready for businesses to close and taxes to decrease, raise tariffs further. Then the state will not receive money to counter aggression, because taxes are essentially the only source of financing for the Defense Forces,” Vodoviz emphasized.
He reported that some Metinvest enterprises have already stopped operating, and the situation will worsen significantly if logistics costs increase. On the other hand, Ukrzaliznytsia has ways to reduce costs, because it is currently financing inefficient enterprises in its composition.
“We have the Ingulets Mining and Processing Plant now, 3 thousand people are unemployed. Repair enterprises have stopped. That’s why we come to Ukrzaliznytsia and explain that we don’t have a financial reserve. Increase your labor productivity, close down inefficient enterprises. And there is a lot of inefficiency there, and this is a good time to reform Ukrzaliznytsia and make it competitive. But there is no reaction. The situation now is such that state monopolies, such as Ukrzaliznytsia, feel comfortable. We have had losses for three years, while UZ has profits. So, in 2023 there were 5 billion hryvnias,” Vodoviz emphasized.
As is known, the Supervisory Board of Ukrzaliznytsia has agreed to increase freight tariffs by 37%. Currently, the project is under consideration by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine. At the same time, for 3 quarters of 2024, UZ received 1.7 billion UAH of net profit – this, according to market experts, allows the company to maintain the freight tariff at the current level.
Business associations, including international chambers of commerce, criticized the tariff increase and warned of significant risks to the economy that it carries. And ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih announced the threat of closing the plant and laying off 20 thousand employees.
