National Enterprises Authority to streamline 422 SOEs
Sri Lanka’s 422 State owned Enterprises (SOEs) are to be brought under a streamlined management system to ensure the accountability of the chairmen and the board of all these institutions making it efficient, and profit oriented instead of privatising any of them, official sources said.
The National Policy Framework of the government has suggested implementing a strategic plan calling upon the chairmen and Board of all SOEs to devise such plans immediately.
A National Enterprises Authority will be established to bring all SOEs under its regulatory purview, according to the new policy framework.
State enterprises performing similar functions will be amalgamated while establishing a special Treasury monitoring system to oversee important state enterprises.
Chairmen and Board of all SOEs will have to ensure the accountability of all forms of malpractices of their institutions.
All state banks, state enterprises and state corporations have been mandated to submit financial statements according to the auditing standards.
Laws will be enacted to stop any public enterprise from being privatised, the national policy document specifically mentioned while introducing laws to safeguard and protect government and state-owned entities.
Measures will be taken to appoint senior career professionals to manage state enterprises and revise the existing salaries and governing laws. A scheme to monitor their performances will be implemented.
Strategically vital areas of the economy are handled by public enterprises such as electricity, water, petroleum products, telecommunications, and airlines etc.
The corporate governance of all public enterprises is of great importance to the overall equity and competitiveness of the economy. In 2018, state-owned enterprises received approximately a grant of Rs. 28.6 billion for recurrent expenditure and Rs. 21 billion for capital expenditure compared to Rs. 55 billion and Rs. 20 billion in 2017, Treasury data showed.
Accordingly, there has been a decline in the allocation of government grants.
According to the Auditor General Department statistics, 75 public enterprises have shown a deficit of Rs. 135,821 million in their financial results.
The National Housing Development Authority, Ceylon Electricity Board, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Paddy Marketing Board and 15 universities including university colleges were with considerable financial deficits.