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Ukrainian-Brazilian Space Program: Failure, Debt and Crime

18.11.2016 In 2003, Ukraine and Brazil signed a major deal. The first country builds a rocket, the second one – a cosmodrome. In 2015, Brazil denounced the agreement. Not only this country is guilty of disrupting the project. Read about that in the article written by Natalia Leshchenko, CASE Ukraine`s economist.

No one knows how the economic effect from this state-financed project was calculated. Its scope is not reliably known. Primary materials on the project`s approval are marked ‘for official use’.
In 2015, when the Brazilian partner withdrew from the project, it was stated that the costs and benefits of the project raise many questions. The Accounting Chamber experts noted that the terms of the loan were unprofitable for Ukraine, namely its taking was economically unfounded.

Chairman of the State Space Agency said the project’s commercial success in highly competitive launch services markets is not guaranteed.

In addition, the executor’s state rises many questions. SE ‘Pivdenne imeni M.K. Yanhelia’ which has got state guarantees, holds the 7th place in the top 10 state-owned enterprises that create fiscal risks.

The company systematically violates the terms of contracts. It has also broken the implementation of another priority project of the National Space Program, the creation of a ‘Sich-2′ spacecraft . During the implementation, the project cost increased threefold up to $ 488 million. The deadlines repeatedly postponed.

The project`s implementation deserves a criminal connotation. The Accounting Chamber noted that the leadership of the State Enterprise ‘KB Pivdenne’ has used loans in its sole discretion, without taking into consideration loan contract`s claims and state economic interests.

Read the full text [in ukrainian]