Ukraine creates state-owned operator of agricultural lands

The establishment of State Land Bank LLC has been completed, which allows for state-owned land lease auctions to be launched in Ukraine.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian State Property Fund Head Vitalii Koval on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“The corporatization procedure of Agrarian Investment Fund State Enterprise has been completed. State Land Bank LLC was created on its basis, which is Ukraine’s first state-owned operator of agricultural lands,” the report states.

This is the final stage of the Land Bank project before the first online auctions for the lease of state-owned lands can be launched.

According to Koval, the newly created company is fully owned by the state.

With the creation of State Land Bank LLC, a new mechanism for the use of land plots is being introduced. From now on, instead of 1% of the regulatory monetary value for permanent use, the rental rate of 12% will be in effect.

“By converting a state enterprise into a limited liability company, we destroy a model of the ‘permanent use of state-owned lands’, which had brought nothing to the state but losses and corruption. Now, the rental rate will be 12% instead of the previous 1%, providing a significant rise in the state budget revenues,” State Land Bank LLC Director Yaroslav Yaroslavskyi noted.

A reminder that Agrarian Investment Fund State Enterprise used to administer 104 thousand hectares of state-owned agricultural lands from 59 public institutions.