THE total assets of state-owned enterprises (SOE) surpassed $9 billion at the end of December last year, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Economic and Fiscal Update Supplement released last Friday.
The ministry said the total asset base of the SOE portfolio has grown significantly in the last three years.
“Entities in the infrastructure and transport sector (Airports Fiji Ltd, Energy Fiji Ltd, Fiji Ports Corporation Pte Ltd and Fiji Airways) have the largest asset base,” the supplement stated.
“SOEs experienced an improvement in net profit and dividends in 2022 due to the opening of borders and resumption of economic activity, particularly for entities in the infrastructure and transport sectors, which were severely affected by border closures and the grounding of the national airline.
“In recent years, SOEs in the transport and infrastructure sector have paid out comparatively higher dividends than other sectors, given their large asset base and consistently strong financial performance.”
The supplement stated that over the years, there had been a notable across-the-board decline in dividends due to the impacts of the pandemic on SOE performance.
“However, a slight improvement was noted in 2021-2022 whereby the government received a total of $30.8 million in dividends from EFL ($23.8 million), FPCL ($5.5 million) and ATH ($1.5 million).
Ministry: Total assets of SOEs surpasses $9b
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