Opposition parties say a Treasury report confirming that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are doing well is further reason for the Government to drop its plan to partially privatise state-owned energy companies.
The report, by the Treasury's Crown Ownership Monitoring Unit, says SOEs' performance has improved in the past year or two.
Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says the SOEs have done well in tough economic times and that reinforces the argument against partial asset sales.
Labour finance spokesperson David Parker agrees. He says the report shows the SOES rank among their peers as being in the upper quartile of companies of the same type, "so the assertion that these companies perform better in private ownership is udnermined".
But State-Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall says the partial privatisation plan will help reduce the Government's need to borrow.
Return of 16.7% last financial year
The report, which examines the overall performance of 41 SOEs, states that they achieved a return of 16.7% on funds in the 2010-11 financial year.
It warns, however, that the colelctive return over the past five years still lags behind the earnings from government bonds and behind the institutions' own objectives.
The organisations covered in the report range from the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to ACC.
