CONTINUED EFFORTS NEEDED TO FURTHER SOE REFORMS: ADB
The Asian Development Bank logo. Photo credit: ADB.
Continued efforts are needed to further reforms of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) across the Pacific, according to an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report launched in Port Moresby.
Benchmarking the Performance of State-owned Enterprises compares the financial performance of SOEs including Solomon Islands.
The report finds SOE portfolios in the eight Pacific countries examined contributed between 1.8 percent to 12 percent of the gross domestic product, despite very large asset bases, ongoing government cash transfers, and monopoly market positions.
Solomon Islands’ SOE portfolio’s return on equity jumped from minus 11 percent between 2002-2009 to 10 percent between 2010-2014.
This report finds Solomon Islands and many countries have made significant progress through commercially-oriented reforms.
It is the fifth report in the Finding Balance series, which identifies strategies to guide reforms of SOEs, highlighting the importance of balancing public and private sector roles.