Over 2,000 new hires to SOEs in 2024 first quarter

The state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have hired a total of over 2,000 new employees during the first quarter of 2024, reports Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB).

The Quarterly Review of PCB showed a total of 3,072 employees in budget-supported SOEs and 27,314 employees in self-sufficient SOEs by the end of last year.

The workforce of all SOEs at the conclusion of 2024 first quarter stood at 33,284, with 4,219 employees in budget-supported SOEs and 29,065 in self-sufficient SOEs – which is an increase of 2,545 employees compared to the preceding quarter.

Out of the budget-supported SOEs, WAMCO hired the greatest number of new employees during the review quarter, and is also the largest employer in this category with 2,262 total employees in Q1-2024 compared to the 1,734 employees by the end of 2023 – indicating an increase of 528 employees.

The hiring pattern for SOEs also indicate gradual increase year-after-year. According to PCB statistics, the total number of employees from 2019 to 2023 in SOEs stood at:

• 2019 – 18,529 employees
• 2020 – 20,313 employees
• 2021 – 22,017 employees
• 2022 – 24,904 employees
• 2023 – 30,739 employees

According to PCB statistics, state-owned enterprises reported an overall net profit decline of 20 percent in Q1-2024.

SOEs generated a total revenue of MVR 13.74 billion in the review quarter, which is a 5 percent increment from the MVR 13.09 billion in the same quarter last year.

Despite the marginal revenue increment for all SOEs, net profit dropped from MVR 2.10 billion in Q1-2023 to MVR 1.69 billion in Q1-2024 – indicating poor financial performance in average across all SOEs.

Government has spent MVR 1.33 billion to fund SOEs through grants, subsidies, or capital out which subsidies take the largest share with MVR 1.22 billion spent by the state to provide subsidies to SOEs.

Most of the SOEs have expanding expenditure and debt and multiple administrations have faced public accusations of abusing state powers to hire employees to state-run companies for political motives, especially ahead of elections.