BICG releases landmark report on state companies

RIGA - The Baltic Institute of Corporate Governance has released the first ever publicly available report on the performance of Latvia's state-owned enterprises.

“The Review is the first ever document of this type in Latvia. Its preparation has been a voluntary work donated by BICG and its expert team. The goal is to improve transparency in Latvia and create a benchmark for SOE evaluation in the years to come, thus contributing to their better performance," said Kristian Kaas Mortensen, President of BICG.

The report provides detailed information on the financial performance of companies that are fully or partly owned by the government. BICG experts have analyzed the profitability of companies in the energy, telecommunications, forestry, transport, real estate, healthcare and other sectors, a press release from the organization said. 

According to the compiled data, the Latvian state is a shareholder in altogether 142 companies with their aggregate turnover comprising 18% of Latvia's GDP in 2009. In per capita terms, the value of state-owned shares and assets is 1,646 lats (LVL).

Baltic Institute of Corporate Governance is a non profit, non governmental initiative towards to creating better governed public and private companies in the Baltic Sea region.