First ever ‘Public Enterprise Perfomance Results’ website launched

The Solomon Islands government today launched the country’s first ever Public Enterprise Performance Results website in Honiara.

This makes Solomon Islands the first Melanesian country and second in the Pacific to develop such website.

The website provides profiles of each of the country’s eight ‘State-Owned Enterprise’, featuring their financial performance, board members, and links to relevant legislation.

The website was developed with the support of the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative, which is aimed at giving easy access to the information for members of the public.

Speaking during the website’s launching today, the Permanent secretary for the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Mr Harry Kuma said this achievement is consistent with the government’s commitment to increasing transparency.

Mr Kuma said SOEs are at the forefront of providing basic essential services needed and the people can now have better access at a reasonable cost.

“My Ministry is implementing an ongoing reform to help build on the recent improved performances of our SOEs,” he said.

“While we are proud of this achievement, we are also conscious of how quickly public enterprise results can deteriorate when political commitment to commercial outcomes weaken.”

Meanwhile, ADB Solomon Islands Unit head, Amila Salgado said the website marks another important milestone in the country’s SOE reforms programme.

He said the positive performance of some of the country’s SOEs, has positioned them to seek funding from development partners for their major investment projects.

“Solomon Islands has been a leading reformer in the Pacific region, actively seeking and implementing reform initiatives,” he said.

“Like SIWA has recorded $20 Million profit last year, so we will be supporting them through a $137 Million programme next year”.

An ADB report revealed, Solomon Islands had achieved dramatic improvement in the perfomance of its SOE portfolio since 2009, and is now the most profitable in the Pacific.

Between 2010 and 2014, it produced an average return of assets of 6.7% and an average return on equity of 10%, far higher than neigbouring countries.

The website can be accessed at:  http://www.pacificsoedata.org/solomon-islands/

 

By: Lowen Sei