Govt gets dividend of Rs 13.75 billion out of its share investment of Rs 379.72 billion in public enterprises

Published On: May 27, 2024 05:20 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Seven out of 10 manufacturing public enterprises are in loss

KATHMANDU, May, 27: The government received a dividend worth mere Rs 13.75 billion out of its investment of Rs 379.72 billion made in public enterprises.

The Annual Status Review of Public Enterprises presented in the parliament by the Ministry of Finance on Sunday shows that the government received the aforementioned amount of dividends from eight state-owned enterprises in the fiscal year 2022/23. While the share investment increased by 9.19 percent, the government secured only 3.62 percent in returns.

The report shows out of 44 public enterprises operating in Nepal, only 26 earned profits in the review year. While 15 were in losses, three public enterprises did not conduct any financial transactions. The total operating income of these institutes is Rs 661.01 billion.

The net profit amount of these public enterprises, however, increased in the last fiscal year compared to the FY 2021/22. It is seen that the net profit of these institutions reached Rs 48.51 billion.

The government’s total investment in public enterprises increased 9.19 percent to Rs 661 billion compared to the last fiscal year. This included Rs 379 billion in share investment, while Rs 281 billion was loan investment. These public enterprises provided employment to a total of 32,180 people and the cumulative profits increased to Rs 61.14 billion.

Until last year, 20 public enterprises had completed their annual audit and the most profitable institutions are Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Nepal Telecom (NT), Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), and Deposit and Credit Guarantee Fund.

The NOC posted net profits of Rs 11.81 billion, compared to the loss of Rs 37.59 billion in the previous FY. The cumulative loss declined to Rs 3.92 billion from Rs 16.82 billion in the review period.

Likewise, the NEA secured net profits of Rs 9.40 billion, the NT earned Rs 7.92 billion and the CIT earned net profits of Rs 3.85 billion.

Likewise, the Nepal Forest Corporation Limited, Nepal Airlines Corporation, Nepal Water Supply Corporation, Dairy Development Corporation, Udayapur Cement Industries Limited and Nepal Television incurred large amounts of financial losses. Nepal Forest Corporation Limited faced the highest loss of Rs 11.81 billion, followed by Nepal Airlines Corporation at Rs 652.9 million and Nepal Water Supply Corporation with a loss of Rs 546.9 million.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Finance, the administrative expenses of public enterprises were Rs 43.10 billion in the last FY. Out of the 18 privatized institutions, 10 were found to be profitable.