(MENAFN- Morocco World News) ">Rabat – The government is preparing to privatize public companies to increase the financial resources of the state and relieve the 'burden' of some public sectors .
The government has achieved a consensus on the launch of a new phase of privatization, the Al Massae newspaper reported today.
The former economy minister Mohamed Boussaid defended the approach to ensure the withdrawal of the state from activities that private companies can manage, the newspaper added.
The aim is to make public institutions focus on its major functions and give the private sector the chance to take over other sectors.
According to Al Massae, the operation can involve the National Railway Office (ONCF) and the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA).
The government has implicitly pointed out its intention to privatize some public institutions. Boussaid has explicitly to this when he said, ' and could be converted into a joint-venture company to achieve greater transparency and governance, and this conversion will develop their services and business activity.'
The government has not yet revealed the list of the companies to be privatized and turned into joint-venture companies.
There are 210 public institutions, including 20 commercial and 183 non-commercial, 3 financial, and 4 for social reserve.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been rumors circulating in Moroccan media, such as , , about Morocco's intention to privatize some public institutions, including the National Railway Office (ONCF).
The weekly newspaper Al Ousbouea reported in July 5 that many Moroccan public economic institutions, particularly the strategic ones, such as ONCF, ONDA, the Moroccan motorway operator (ADM) and the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), are going bankrupt due to the accumulation of debt caused by low profits.
The decline in profits is due to the fact that these institutions have engaged in major structural projects: new train stations, airport expansion, and construction of major water channels. They suffer from poor liquidity, therefore accumulating debt that they cannot afford, wrote Al Ousbouea.
This is similar to what happened to Maroc Telecom, the main telecommunication company in Morocco, 17 years ago. On 20 February 2001 the Moroccan government sold 35% of Maroc Telecom's shares to French mass media company Vivendi.
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