The Ukrainian parliament has failed to pass a draft law which would lift a moratorium on the forced sale of the property of companies with state stakes of 25% or more to pay the debts of companies owed for gas supplied by national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy and its subsidiaries.

All in all, only 175 lawmakers supported draft law No. 2956.

While presenting the draft law, Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine Ihor Bilous said it was drawn up to stabilize the financial state of Naftogaz Ukrainy: the debt of heating supply companies of state ownership to Naftogaz Ukrainy for gas amounts to around UAH 1.5 billion and the debts of joint-stock companies with state stakes of at least 25% is around UAH 5.5 billion.

Bilous said Naftogaz does not have the required efficient tools to collect debts and mechanisms to influence debtors.