The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine will initiate the continuation of the exemption from paying rent for state property in areas where hostilities have been or are ongoing, acting head of the State Property Fund Olha Batova has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"We will definitely initiate this. There is a need to make a lease exemption for seaports, for example. They don't work. I understand that the Ministry of Finance will be against it, but we will again find a consensus," Batova said.

She noted that closer to August, the State Property Fund will initiate an extension of the period of discounts for areas where they operate until September, and active shelling and hostilities continue.

As reported, during martial law, the State Property Fund listened to business and introduced a comprehensive system of benefits and discounts for many categories of tenants. According to resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 634, until September 30, the territories of the regions where hostilities took place were exempted from rental payments: Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv regions as well as the city of Kyiv (except for administrative-territorial units in certain territories). Tenants in the territories of Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr and Odesa regions are exempt from rent until May 30.

Upon the expiration of these terms in the specified territories, the rent is charged in the amount of 50% of the amount of the fee established by the agreement, taking into account its indexation. The discount is valid during the period of martial law, within three months after its end, but in any case until December 31, 2022.

Previously, throughout Ukraine, except for areas where other benefits are temporarily applied, tenants of state property are provided with a 50% discount, tenants of unified property complexes – 25%.

"In the western regions not affected by active hostilities (Lviv, Zakarpattia, Volyn regions), about 70% of the planned payments were received from tenants. At the same time, if we talk about southern Ukraine, in particular, about Odesa or Mykolaiv, the Fund sees reduction of rent payments in about 50% planned," Batova said.

In general, most of the regional offices of the State Property Fund report an almost two-fold drop in rental income.

"To a large extent, the growth of rental payments depends on the scale and duration of hostilities on the territory of our state. We hope that by the end of 2022, business activity in most regions will recover, which will positively affect the amount of rental income," Batova said.