Workshop on Reforming State-Owned Enterprises

In cooperation with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the American University of Central Asia, the CAREC Institute has organized a workshop for senior personnel of state bodies in charge of managing state-owned enterprises (SOE) and public-private partnerships (PPP) to discuss existing SOE practices and reform strategies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, during 26-27 September 2019.

The participants shared new research, country experiences, best practices, risks, information about ongoing reforms, SOE impact on economy, current policy issues in SOE management, global trends, role of governance, legal framework, performance evaluation models, and many more.

The 17th Ministerial Conference of the CAREC countries highlighted the issue of the SOE functionality and the public sector reform as a priority in November 2018. This workshop was arranged to respond to the priority agenda of the CAREC Ministerial Conference.

It was discussed how SOEs address certain types of market failures, that they account for 15% of GDP in OECD countries and 20-30% of GDP in transition economies, for 20% of investment and 5% of employment globally. In 2017, 102 of the world’s largest 500 enterprises were owned by sovereign governments. However, the participants also highlighted transparency and performance issues in relation with SOEs. Research was shared where low productivity SOEs make business environment more severe for the private sector due to non-performing loans, influence on collateral requirements for the business, and making their access to finance more difficult. A comprehensive evaluation framework was proposed for SOEs which can help improve policy decision making.