COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government has transformed 52 loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into profit-making ventures in 2023, State Minister for Finance Shehan Semasinghe said on Tuesday.

These SOEs lost around 743 billion rupees (about 2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Electricity Board, two of the most loss-making SOEs in the past, are now profitable due to the cost-reflective pricing mechanism and the current economic reforms.

The minister said previous governments provided essential services at a subsidized price to provide relief to the people, but on a long-term basis, this resulted in Sri Lanka facing a severe economic crisis.

At present, the government is focusing on providing targeted welfare for the poor instead of providing subsidized price systems for essential services for all, Semasinghe added.

Xinhua