President Ranil Wickremesinghe, presenting the 2023 Budget in parliament (Nov 14), stated that measures will be taken to restructure SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), Colombo Hilton, Waters Edge and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) along with its subsidiaries.
The proceeds of these institutions will be used to strengthen the foreign exchange reserves of the country, and strengthening the Rupee, he added.
The urgency of restructuring the most fiscally significant State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) was reiterated several times during the last 6 months, said the president, emphasizing that a Unit has now been established at the Ministry of Finance with the specific task of restructuring SOEs, as committed to in the Interim Budget.
Further, he proposed to line up the similar nature of businesses by way of backward, forward or horizontal integration in order to make strategic interventions to SOEs with the anticipation of achieving economies of scale and other benefits.
