A high number of the 64 parastatals or State-Owned Entities (SOE) spread across the different ministries are loss-making, with several having run in this position for many years. Meanwhile, each year, government, allocates the majority of the P15 billion or so it spends under 'grants and subventions', on parastatals. The balance goes to local authorities.
Parastatals are key to service delivery in the country and a number of them are generally expected to run as going concerns and provide a return to government as the shareholder. The parastatals are divided into commercial and non-commercial, meaning those expected to run on a profitable or 'going concern' basis and those that by the nature of their activities exclusively rely on support from government for sustenance.
