• SriLankan, CEB, Lanka Hospitals, SLT, Waters Edge and Hilton identified
• Given the losses, no option but to privatise SriLankan Airlines: President
• Lanka Hospitals shares to be put on stock market within next few weeks
• Action on Hilton to be decided after clearing existing legal impediments 

 A new holding company is to be set up this month to hold shares of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that are to be reformed/privatised, The Sunday Morning learns.

“A holding company will be set up to hold the shares of these institutions. It will be formed in the second week of this month (January),” President Ranil Wickremesinghe told The Sunday Morning on Friday (6). 

President Wickremesinghe stated that one of the key concerns of those providing financial assistance to Sri Lanka was that funds provided to the country should not be used to fund losses. “They (donors) want the funds to be utilised in the health and food manufacturing (agriculture) sectors. Therefore, the Government cannot proceed with loss-making enterprises,” Wickremesinghe noted, while reiterating the Government’s commitment to proceed with the proposed public sector reforms as well as that of SOEs. 

Referring to the SOE reforms programme, Wickremesinghe noted that the only way forward for SriLankan Airlines was to privatise it given the losses. “There’s no other way to do away with the losses,” he said. 

As for the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), he noted that steps had been taken to cover its losses through the cost reflective pricing mechanism. “The only issue with CPC is its debt. Now it (CPC) has sought five years to repay the debt.” 

However, Wickremesinghe noted that the situation with the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was worse than that of the CPC with losses being estimated at around Rs. 200 billion.

“The choice now is between increasing VAT or the electricity bill,” the President said, adding that there was no issue over the supply of coal to the Norochcholai Power Plant for power generation. 

When asked about the plans for the CEB, Wickremesinghe told The Sunday Morning that the unbundling process of the CEB was now ongoing. 

“Restructuring is the only way for the country now with the foreign exchange issues,” Wickremesinghe observed. 

The Government has so far identified SriLankan Airlines, CEB, Lanka Hospitals, Hilton Colombo, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), and Waters Edge as the institutions to be restructured/privatised. 

Wickremesinghe also explained that Lanka Hospitals would be put on the stock market, most probably this week. He added that the next steps on Hilton Colombo would be initiated once the existing legal issues were resolved.