Ukroboronprom may suffer losses due to COVID-19 – Abromavičius

Enterprises of the Ukroboronprom State Concern may suffer losses due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), Director General of Ukroboronprom Aivaras Abromavičius has said.

"Before coronavirus, before the financial crisis, which the world is facing now, we expected a 30% growth in export sales this year. But, as we can already see, there will be some adjustments. All exhibitions, which we planned to visit in Qatar and Malaysia, have been canceled. So, we will have fewer contacts with our potential clients," he told a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

At the same time, Abromavičius noted that Ukroboronprom saw a 19% rise in export in 2019.

He also said that there are difficulties for some companies, such as Antonov State Enterprise, which carry out transportation of non-standard cargos worth over $200 million per annum and cooperate with a range of countries, which have introduced quarantine.

"We will have adjustments here. The concern will respond to such situations rapidly, as long as we can already see that there is a problem with the supply of details from various countries," the director general said.

He also emphasized that the state concern has developed an action plan for 68,000 employees of its enterprises against possible worsening of the situation with COVID-19 in Ukraine. The plan, in particular, deals with providing the employees with a possibility to work from home, he said.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua