State companies administered by Economy Ministry yielded nearly 94% of all dividends

Of 245.69 million lei received by the State Budget in dividends yielded by stated companies in 2010, 230.15 million lei, or 93.67% originated from the companies administered by the Ministry of Economy, including the Public Procurement Agency, the Ministry said in a press release. The top five state companies that produced the largest dividends are Moldtelecom, with 192.8 million lei; Metalferos, with 32.7 million lei; Moldatsa, with 12.1 million lei; Moldelectrica, with 7.3 million lei; and Tutun CTC, 6 million lei. At a news conference on the subject, Minister Valeriu Lazar noted that the state assets have a much greater potential in terms of efficiency and profit, but for this it is necessary to apply a complex of measures, which shouldn’t be limited to a set of narrow actions. Asked if the unification of all public procurement activity under the supervision of one single governmental agency would help to improve the efficiency of state companies, Valeriu Lazar said that this is just one option. “Currently there are some objections as to the activity of our national public procurement system, in particular because of its overstraining, which creates delays along the entire procurement chain. Besides, this system faces a high risk of corruption”, said Valeriu Lazar. Lazar said that another option is to exert a stricter control over the management of companies with state capital and apply increased requirements for transparency in procurement activity.