Each third state-owned company in Moldova sustains losses and the situation worsens from year to year. The share of state-owned companies that made profit in 2018 declined to 60% from 62.6% in 2017, economist Diana Enachi stated in the program “15 Minutes of Economic Realism” that is produced by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” in partnership with RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service, IPN reports.

The analysis of the economic-financial activity shows the net profit made by the state-owned companies decreased about ten times. A profit of 148.9 million lei was generally made in 2017, while in 2018 the net profit was of only 15.9 million lei.

Among the companies that sustained losses are: Moldova’s Railways (73.1m lei), Mărculești International Airport (19.9m lei), Universul Publishing House (9.6m lei) and the Soil Protection and Financial Improvement Company (4m lei).

The largest profits were made by: Moldelectrica (28.6m lei), Moldova’s Post Office (19.6m lei), Glass Factory of Chisinau (12.6m lei) and the Costești Hydropower Plant (12.4m lei).

“The accumulation of losses and arrears at companies owned by the state is a medium-term risk. If these do not manage to cover the financial losses, the debts and, respectively, to optimize the activity, the Government is obliged to intervene with public funds. This can lead to the worsening of the public finance situation. At the end of 2018, state-owned companies’ debts totaled 6 billion lei, 2.4 billion lei of which were accumulated in 2018 alone, while the rest were long-term debts.

The Public Property Register kept by the Public Property Agency includes about 220 state-owned companies and 86 commercial organizations with state capital, 63 of which have fully or majority state capital.