(Corrects AAU figures in paragraph four to 100 million and 50 million)
KIEV, July 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine wants to earn $2 billion from the sale of carbon emission rights, funds that would help the country's stretched finances, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on Tuesday.
The ex-Soviet state has already sold 30 million Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) to Japan under the emissions trading scheme facilitated by the Kyoto Protocol. Ukraine said it would earn 3 billion hryvnias ($400 million) from that sale.
"We are ready to earn $2 billion from the sale of quotas and to reform the utilities sector within three years," Tymoshenko said at a conference of her political party, Batkivshchina (Homeland).
She did not say when the deal would be struck or give further details. The government had said in May it was looking to sell this year 100 million AAUs to Swiss-based Dighton Carbon SA and another 50 million to New Zealand's Tawhaki International LP.
Ukraine was allocated 4.5 billion AAUs between 2008-2012 but due to a deep recession and steeply falling industrial activity, it estimates it needs to use only 2.8 billion. The country is allowed to sell about 450 million AAUs.
The state budget has been hit by much lower export and tax revenues linked to the recession. The hryvnia has weakened to the dollar by 30-40 percent from highs of a year ago, complicating efforts to pay for imports such as gas. (Editing by Jon Boyle)