Financial Times

PERC to reform state organisations
Newly appointed chairman of the Public Enterprises Reform Commission, Nihal Sri Amarasekara, said PERC still has a role to play even though the new government is not going to privatise significant state enterprises.

"When you say public enterprises reform it does not mean wholesale privatisation," he said. "Public enterprises can be reformed while they remain under government ownership. That is what is going to happen in the future."

The government has said it will not pursue the previous regime's privatisation programme, except for those enterprises where bids had already been called for. It has created a new organisation called Strategic Enterprise Management Agency to oversee reforms in key state organisations such as the state banks, Ceylon Electricity Board and the ports and airports authorities.

The government has not said how the PERC and SEMA would complement each other nor explained what appears to be some overlapping in their areas of responsibility. Amarasekara declined to give details of PERC's role.

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