REUTERS
The company has already paid UAH 8.5 billion (US$315.6 million) in dividends to the national budget.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said National Joint-Stock Company Naftogaz of Ukraine will channel UAH 39.7 billion (US$1.5 billion) in dividends for 2019 into the national budget, which is to be allocated, in particular, for road infrastructure and development of medical facilities.
"According to the results of 2019, Naftogaz will pay UAH 39.7 billion in dividends [to the national budget]. At the same time, the company has already paid UAH 8.5 billion [US$315.6 million]. The major state-owned company should work for citizens. So, most of these funds will be allocated for the development of [public facilities], namely the construction of roads and reconstruction of hospital wards, as well as their provision with upgraded equipment," he said at a government meeting on May 6.
"This refers to a project worth at least UAH 6 billion [US$222.8 million]. We are talking about this now, because we received the Naftogaz audit report by Deloitte, one of the world's top four auditors... Some 210 ward facilities at basic hospitals will be built and updated in keeping with a single standard. The wards will receive upgraded equipment. Citizens in small towns and villages should receive affordable high-quality medical services," he said.
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"It is important that we could see the results of the audit so that we could be sure that funds are available, including those that Ukraine received from [Russia's] Gazprom under the Stockholm Arbitration's award. As we agreed and as was instructed by the president, the funds will be allocated for the development of the Ukrainian infrastructure," the minister said, addressing Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev.
UNIAN memo. NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine is the largest state-run vertically integrated oil and gas holding whose subsidiaries account for about 90% of oil and gas production in Ukraine. Naftogaz develops oil and gas fields, produces crude oil and natural gas. Its core business is also transportation and trade in fuel through its own network of filling stations.