Africa-Press – Angola. Companies in the Public Business Sector (SEP) recorded, in 2022, profits of around 67.7%, corresponding to 2,661.5 billion kwanzas, a growth of 17.1% compared to 2021.
With these results, the State received dividends amounting to 2.2 billion kwanzas.
In 2021, profits, before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITA), were 2,273.8 billion kwanzas, with dividends of around 1.84 billion.
The universe of the SEP for 2022 was 92 companies, of which 71 companies, 55 public and 16 in the public domain.
According to data presented this Friday by the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, the proportion of companies with approved accounts without reservations was 32.4%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points, compared to the 18, 8% from the previous year.
Vera Daves, who was speaking at the opening ceremony of the presentation of the aggregate report of the public business sector, referring to 2022, said that the country continues to register a high flow of State resources to companies, in the form of operating subsidies and capitalization.
Such operations together required 466 billion kwanzas from the General State Budget (OGE) for 2022.
As a counterpoint to this magnitude of resources, which are still spent by the State, the official made it known that the dividends received were in the order of 2.2 billion kwanzas.
For Vera Daves de Sousa, it is fair to recognize that these numbers remove full visibility to the work that has been carried out in terms of management and financial results of some public companies, which are beginning to pay dividends to the State.
However, according to the minister, it is necessary for SEP companies to contribute more to the economy, because, in her view, it is unreasonable that the sector’s aggregate assets correspond to 51.4% of the nominal Gross Domestic Product and, however, the annual turnover it generates corresponds to just 16.9% of the same indicator.
Vera Daves explained that the reform of the public business sector highlights the need to improve the financial autonomy of companies, eliminate permanent sources of fiscal risk and create the right incentives for companies to be profitable and pay dividends to the shareholder, that is to State.
“We intend, more and more, to abandon the logic of subsidies and permanent recapitalizations and to rationalize the resources allocated to companies in the public business sector, within a framework of rigor, discipline and parsimony that, in general, are imposed on the execution of public expenditure”, he said. the minister.
For this reason, the official defends that companies in which the State is a shareholder should seek to be more efficient in their operations, maximize the profitability of their assets and promote the development of the national economy.
The SEP universe for the year 2021 was made up of 88 companies, 68 of which are public companies, 16 companies in the public domain, and four holdings.
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