enterprises in order to secure €800mn in 2011.
The administrations of the listed public companies and those not monitored by the Special Secretariat for Public Enterprises will start talks with the ministry for the implementation of a 10% wage cut that was introduced last December.
Ministry officials note that if an agreement is reached, the cuts will be retroactive as it happened last year, when Greece secured €220mn, according to provisional data. Wage cuts in the period Jan-Sep 2010 for 52 public enterprises amounted to €144mn, according to official data.
However, 2011 target refers to all public enterprises and entities that exceed 100, while these measures are only a part of the overall effort to restrain public wage costs.
Deputy Finance Minister Filippos Sachinidis (photo) told local television broadcast Skai that the ratio of 1 hiring to 5 retirements may alter to 1 to 7. He said that he could neither confirm nor rule out this possibility at that point, while a reduction of parliament members from 300 to 200 could be possible if it is considered necessary and functional.
Regarding to the revenues of public enterprises, they recorded a sharp decline according to an announcement on Tuesday. In a sample of 15 of 52 public enterprises, the total revenues including subsidies decreased by 34% in January 2011 versus January 2010. Revenues from sales decreased by 20% in January 2011.
Ministry sources noted that the problem relates to the urban transportation strikes and the “I don’t pay” movement. An increase of revenue is expected in February because of the increase of ticket prices.
source: CAPITAL
