Even though Ukraine’s state railway monopoly Ukrzaliznytsia has not performed as well as its leadership had hoped for in 2018, it still managed to significantly increase its profits in only one year.
According to the Facebook account of Yevgeny Kravtsov, acting chairman of the state-enterprise’s management board, Ukrzaliznytsia made Hr204 million ($7.59 million) instead of the Hr710 million ($26.23 million) it had planned.
Kravtsov quotes EY, a firm that audits the railway enterprise. The actual report will be published on April 30.
Altogether, the enterprise’s net profit increased by nearly 80 percent, or Hr 89 million, from 2017 to 2018.
This income was generated by both passenger and freight transportation.
“In 2018, we gradually brought the cost of shipping goods to the market price,” said Kravtsov.
Kravtsov has been nominated to chair the company only recently on Jan. 10, and had declared then that it would require Hr 1 trillion ($37 billion) to bring Ukrzaliznytsia up to international standards.
He further stated that Ukrzaliznytsia is the largest potential recipient of investments for the development of Ukraine’s infrastructure and fixed assets, according Ukrinform, a state-owned news portal.
Ukrzaliznytsia transports almost all of Ukraine’s metal and ore to Ukrainian ports as well as large volumes of grain and chemical products among others, according to Kravtsov.
