The Ministry of the Economy has only approved the budgets of 26 of its companies

Alina Toma Vereha

The Ministry of the Economy has only approved the revenue and expense budgets for 2009 for 26 out the 100 companies it controls. Tudor Şerban, State secretary in the Ministry of the Economy, yesterday said, during the Eurelectric conference: "This happened in particular due to large salary issues. The employees of some of the companies that posted losses insisted on receiving wage increases and bonuses for this year. What"s more, some companies are suffering from a financial deadlock caused by the fact that while they still have many receivables to cash, they also have large debts".

He said that companies whose budget wasn"t approved were only allowed to spend 11% of their monthly budget. This has made it harder to unfold and to implement the investment plans. According to state secretary Şerban, the financial deadlock is obvious, and the crisis is making it worse, by causing energy demand to drop significantly. What"s more, banks are reticent in lending money for investments even to profitable companies.

The salaries of employees of the Ministry"s largest companies will see a slight growth this year, just enough to cover inflation. He nominated companies such as Transelectrica, Hidroelectrica, Romgaz, Transgaz, Electrica, Nuclearelectrica and possibly the three energy plants of Turceni, Rovinari and Craiova.

The beginning of the public debate for the two energy companies, postponed for a few days

Tudor Şerban also said that the reorganization o energy companies into two large companies will be submitted to the public debate in a few days. He stated the following for BURSA: "The reason why we put Romgaz and coal producers in the two major companies is to allow electricity producers to have the necessary fuel readily available. Coal makers have problems paying their debts, but a solution will be found for that problem as well. We are looking to provide electricity at a price that is as competitive as possible for the population and for companies, and to help the two companies face competition from private companies, that will enter the market in force in 2012".

Mr. Şerban said that the purpose of creating the two major energy companies is to increase the efficiency of all types of operations, to allow the implementation of large modernization investments, as well as to allow privatization. The Ministry of Economy official said: "We are not talking about selling to strategic investors. On a medium term, we are discussing listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the forming of joint ventures for developing or modernization of some production units, just like we did with Termoelectrica".