Given that the situation of the state budget revenues from privatization in the last quarter century is far from being clarified, the Court of Accounts started on Wednesday an audit on the management of state assets and the amounts collected from the privatization of these assets.
In an attempt to find the answer to the question „How much money did in fact collect the Romanian state from privatizations?”, liberal deputy Andreea Paul requested information, on 23 August 2016, from the main five entities of the state with competence in privatizations.
It is about the following entities: Ministry of Public Finance (MFP), Ministry of Economy, Trade and the Business Environment, the Office of State Ownership and Privatization in Industry, the State Asset Administration Authority (AAAS) and the Court of Accounts.
Five weeks after the request, three institutions provided answers- which were made available for cursdeguvernare.ro by the liberal deputy- and the Court of Auditors told on Wednesday that it has started an audit on the subject.
In summary, responses with figures:
- Ministry of Public Finance states that 21.6 billion lei were paid between 2000 – July 2016, to the account opened at the State Treasury for the amounts from the sale of state owned shares.
- The State Asset Administration Authority, the successor institution in 2012 of the former Authority for State Assets Recovery, stated that it received 14.4 billion lei under the privatization contracts which it implemented.
- Department of Privatization and Management of State Ownership (DPAPS), the successor institution in 2014 of the Office of State Ownership and Privatization in Industry, informed that the Romanian state collected over 4.7 billion lei from privatization, from 2003 to date, in contracts monitored by this department.
Ministry of Public Finance, revenue peak in 2006
The Ministry of Public Finance has a clear record of the revenues from privatization only after 2000, since the amounts collected from the sale of the state owned shares in various companies are paid into a separate Treasury account.
The largest amounts collected in the Treasury account were registered in 2006, followed by 2004, respectively 2013, according to the information provided by Ministry of Public Finance.
The lowest revenues and privatization receipts were registered between 2014-2015, when the Romanian state collected 3 million lei from privatization, according to the MFP’s answer.
(Download HERE MFP’s answer)
Noteworthy is that to 31.07. 2016 the Romanian state did not privatize anything therefore did not collect any money.
Ministry of Economy and the „crown jewel”: the sale of Petrom
The Romanian state has collected over EUR 1 billion from privatization since 2003, in the contracts monitored by the Department of Privatization and Management of State Ownership from the Ministry of Economy.
The highest amount was collected from the sale of Petrom to OMV in 2004, when Romania received EUR 707.87 million.
The Romanian Government has also collected, in 2004, over EUR 250 million in the privatization of Distrigaz Sud and Distrigaz Nord.
Moreover, the amounts from the three privatizations represent nearly 90% of the total revenue obtained from privatizations coordinated by the Ministry of Economy, according to the reply sent by DPAPS.
To note that the funds received by this department are not fully paid to the budget, but only the amount remaining after the deduction of the institution’s expenses and restoring the „buffer” available, equal to half of the annual amount for expenditure.
Theoretically, the amounts reported by the department should be reflected the MFP’s data.
AAAS- over 11,000 contracts, just over 14 billion lei
The State Asset Administration Authority received in 2006 7.96 billion lei from privatization, more than half of the total revenue collected in the last 25 years, of 14.42 billion lei.
AAAS has implemented 11,198 contracts between 1992-2016, most of which (75%) were signed between 1996-2000.
(Download HERE AAAS’s answer)
The most productive year for privatization was 1999, with 2,046 contracts, representing revenues of over 895 million lei.
By contrast, the current year with two contracts and privatization revenues of 569,000 lei, amount that does not exist in the MFP reporting.
Most of the amounts – 7.9 billion lei were collected in 2006, for 84 contracts.
From the AAAS income statistics, the 1992-1996 period is missing, during which the institution states that 3,297 contracts have been concluded.
For the grand total, 12.2 billion lei should be deducted from the AAAS data (amount collected between 2000 and 2016), which theoretically can be found in the MFP’s report.
