The operating deficit of public companies is one such variable I would not help close the tax redone of the priority objectives of Sergio Massa’s economic management and one of the main requirements deriving from the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund.
The data known this week corresponding to the first nine months of 2022 are eloquent. State-run companies -does not include YPF- it had an operating deficit of $5,601 million. because of $20.7 million a day. Out of 34 public companies, only six showed positive numbers.
To calculate the operational losses -which in pesos have reached 674.399 million pesos, the average wholesale exchange rate ($120.41) is taken for the first nine months of the year.
The operating deficit is the difference between what companies bill – current income – and what they spend – operating expenses. The difference is resolved with direct contributions from the National Treasury.
The inflation It is already one of the variables that transforms the budgets with which these companies start the year into a dead letter. Expenses and salaries more or less adjust to the rate of price increases. But there is one point that is essential to explain the losses of several public companies. Tariff and subsidy policy.
The 56% of the total operating deficit of the “public companies” sector can be explained with the numbers of the company enarsa, which is responsible for importing energy at a free price and placing it on the internal market at a lower price. In 2021, especially 2022, purchase prices skyrocketed due to the post-pandemic economic recovery and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, it’s true, they’re turning around.
For this reason it is possible that Enarsa’s losses will decrease in the last quarter of the year. And even shrink further in 2023, the product of cheaper, lower-volume imports, if that can even end. the pipeline which starts from Vaca Muerta and reaches the city of Salliqueló in Buenos Aires, and which would serve to introduce more local gas into the distribution network, replacing imported gas.
But the concrete thing is that Enarsa alone has an operating deficit of $3,172 millionmore than half of the operating red of all public companies.
Behind Enarsa appear i passenger trainswhich produce a loss of 966 million dollars in nine months of 2023. Here you can see the full impact of spending on subsidies not to raise very low tariffs, which is far from covering operating expenses. They lose passenger trains, which together employ more than 24,000 people $3.57 million a day.
City train tickets increased by 40% on the first day of this year and the news is that they do it will adjust for inflation from March to December. It is the way that the Government has found to try to stop the growth of the losses of the railway system.
The third place in the ranking of loss-making companies is Argentine airlines. As of 30 September, official payrolls show an operating deficit of 439 million dollars, equal to 1.6 million dollars per day.
The report that Economía published a few days ago acknowledges that “the main expenditure of public non-financial companies corresponds to the Energy, Fuel and Mining function, followed by the Transport function”.
As stated in the previous notes, among the state-owned companies that lose the most money is Aerolíneas Argentinas the only one that doesn’t have the excuse of applying lower than market rates. In the company they come across these signals, underlining that the accounting losses of the airlines are compensated by social gains -tourism, economic activity, connectivity- which are obtained thanks to the fact that the company flies routes that the competition is not interested in.
But the truth is, the airlines’ accumulated numbers are strong. In 2021, the government allocated $669 million to airlines, a slightly lower figure than in 2013, when $704 million was transferred as financial assistance to the country’s main flag carrier. In 2012, spending was even higher: US$904 million. In 2014, meanwhile, 619 million dollars had been withdrawn.
It will be necessary to see what impact the special flights that have been chartered to carry and bring passengers to the balance of 2022 have -marginal, of course- Qatar World Cup.
Behind appears Airlines Argentine Water and Sanitation (AYSA). It produced a deficit of 382 million dollars. An important part of the transfers it receives are intended to finance work to expand the service. AYSA has begun aggressively cutting benefits to the higher income segment of households and this has resulted in bills showing increases of 150%, an impressive percentage but in fact means that payments for this service have jumped from $1,000 at $2,500. It will be necessary to see in 2023 what impact this reduction of subsidies has on the AYSA budget.
Six companies appear in the batch of companies with positive operating results (see infographic). The most important is the General Administration of Ports (AGP), which since September 2021 has started managing the waterway of the Paraná River.
According to the latest report on the Economy, public companies employ 92,930 people. There are 1,876 more than the 91,054 registered at the end of 2021.
Source: Clarin
