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Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Privatization authorities plan merger to improve results

Two national privatization authorities will merge into one entity in the middle of this year, in an effort to improve their efficiency.

The Authority for State Assets Recovery (AVAS) and the Office of State Holdings and Privatization in Industry (OPSPI) will be unified, as part of a government reorganization expected to take place after Romania signs the European Union accession treaty in late April, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Taricneau said yesterday.

The unification of the two agencies is not the only government restructuring planned to increase revenues collected by the state.

Earlier this year, in an effort to have more control and increase state revenue, the government approved an emergency ordinance so that the Financial Guard and the National Customs Authority are subordinated to the Finance Ministry.

PM Tariceanu yesterday said he is unhappy with the work of the Financial Guard and asked the institution's officials to "wake up."

Monday, Tariceanu and the Finance Minister Ionut Popescu had a meeting with the directors of the National Fiscal Administration and warned them their jobs are on the line if they do not keep the debt recovery schedule that companies owe to the state budget.

AVAS yesterday blocked the bank accounts of 1,183 companies, which had debts to the National Health Fund, in an effort to recover 4.6 trillion ROL ($136.2 million).

So far, the authority has only recovered 1.6 trillion ROL ($56.6 million) of these debts.

Posted by Iulia Rasoiu : 3/09/2005 09:41:00 am