The vast majority of companies in which the Mozambican state once held shares have been privatized or liquidated, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario told the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
There had once been 280 such companies he said, but selling off or liquidating 220 of them, left around 60 companies in which the state has a holding. 14 of these are publicly owned companies.
Rosario was answering a question from the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) which asked how many public companies and companies in which the state owns shares exist, and what the financial health of each of them is.
The Prime Minister said that “the privatization and liquidation of the companies has so far benefitted 7,000 workers who have become shareholders, and has increased the number of national business people, in the context of the promotion of the Mozambican business class”.
As for benefits to the state, Rosario said that, of the total state revenue of 110.4 billion meticais (about 2.6 billion dollars) collected in the first nine months of this year, about 0.5 per cent had come from dividends paid to the state by the companies in which it owns shares.
Source: AllAfrica
