The loss of all Portuguese public companies participated in or fully owned by the State (around 146 entities) almost doubled in annual terms, having worsened from 766 million euros in 2023 to 1.3 billion euros in last year’s financial year, a worsening of more than 70%, show new data from the Public Finance Council (CFP) in a new study on the State (SEE) and Regional (SER) Business Sector in the period 2023-2024, released this Wednesday.
According to the entity chaired by Nazaré Costa Cabral, “in 2024, the SEE maintained negative overall results, despite the improvement in financial structure indicators”.
“The aggregate turnover of non-financial companies in the SEE totaled 20.6 billion euros in 2024, 5.2 billion euros more than in the previous year”, in other words, the companies’ turnover rose well, almost 34%. However, costs rose much more and the net result was negative.
The consolidated activity of this universe of public companies, which governments usually praise for having the “merit” of being managed in accordance with private sector practices, resulted in very high and growing losses: in 2024, the negative result increased to “1,312 million euros, representing an increase of 546 million euros compared to 2023”, the year in which the loss was 766 million euros.
The analysis by the entity that evaluates Portuguese public accounts covers these 146 state-owned public companies, but then adds an evaluation to 39 regional companies.
The part of the State Business Sector (SEE) concerns “88 companies and groups of non-financial and 5 financial companies, in a total of 146 entities that make up the sector”, while the analysis of the Regional Business Sector (SER) “respects 39 of the 40 companies in the sector (21 from the Autonomous Region of Madeira and 18 from the Autonomous Region of the Azores)”, says the CFP.
“In the study universe considered, the shareholder function exercised by the State, directly or indirectly through companies in which it participates, covered a total share capital of 36.3 billion euros (12.5% of GDP – Gross Domestic Product), 1.6 billion euros more than in 2023”, calculates the Council.
187 thousand workers, 4% of national employment
“At the end of 2024, the SEE under analysis employed 187,088 workers (+14.5% than in 2023), representing 3.7% of national employment and 23.2% of public employment in the classification of the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP).”
“This growth in employment mirrors the creation of 31 new Local Health Units (ULS), which integrated professionals previously outside the State’s business perimeter”, explains the CFP.