Losses from the public business sector were almost 200 billion kwanzas in 2020

The data were provided by the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute for the Management of State Assets and Participations (IGAPE), Patrício Vilar, during the presentation of the Roadmap for the Reform of the Public Business Sector.

"If we add the impairments, that is, if we add the recognition coming from losses and costs, from previous years, then we are talking about about 300 billion negative kwanzas", said Patrício Vilar.

The chairman of the Board of Directors of IGAPE, who was carrying out the diagnosis of the public business sector, considered that the 92 percent that these companies represent in GDP, are "a very dead weight", in terms of assets.

"We cannot say otherwise, because the weight is in fact negative. There is no doubt that there is a weak economic and financial performance, in general, in the public business sector. The numbers speak for themselves, we have to change the picture", he mentioned.

According to Vilar, the role of the State in the business sector and conflicts of interest contribute to this weak economic and financial situation, that is, the triple position of the State, which is at the same time a shareholder, supervisor and sectoral regulator.

"And naturally we have an insufficient contractualization between the State and companies in the business sector", underlined the official, pointing to the example of the energy sector, in which the infrastructures continue to belong to the State, without any contractualization between the State and the company that manages.

"This is the difficulty and our proposal is to differentiate the two worlds, one is the world of social service and the other is the world of profitability and efficiency and there are companies that have a place in one world and there are companies that have a place in the other", stressed.

In addition to the relationship between the State and companies, Patrício Vilar also indicated the significant shortcomings in management, skills and professionalization of the management of the public business sector.
"Because guilt cannot die single, if the results are negative there must be causes and actors in these causes," he said.

"Today, we have to find the model that allows us to overcome these two groups of adversities or constraints. On the one hand, there is no longer any ambiguity in the relationship between the different roles of the State in companies in the public business sector and, on the other hand, seriously invest in professionalization management of companies in the business sector", he reinforced.

As a proposal for solutions, Patrício Vilar said that a reform package was created centered on four axes, the first being aimed at resizing the public business sector and the need to reposition the State in the sector.

To this end, the first step was already taken in October 2019, with the start of the privatization program, with a public business sector currently dominated by public companies and some public domain companies, to, in the end, be precisely the opposite, said the president of the administration of IGAPE.

At the opening of the event, the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior, said that the implementation of this roadmap will imply the adoption of a new vision for the public business sector, therefore, "it will be necessary to adopt new models of corporate governance public policies, as well as new management, supervision and regulation models".

"The objective must be to make the State's assets profitable in a market logic, while taking into account the provision of essential public services to our populations", he highlighted.

Manuel Nunes Júnior said that this roadmap will be implemented in four years and in this period the greatest commitment of the agents involved must be dedicated, so that the planned actions are effectively implemented.

In turn, the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, who was responsible for closing the act, said that the presentation of the roadmap marks the beginning of a journey of reflection and work in practical terms, to "improve the governance model of the public business sector, of the companies that comprise it".