Profits of government companies amounted to NIS 2.9 billion compared with NIS 4 billion in 2019

In 2020, the profits of government companies in Israel amounted to NIS 2.9 billion - compared with NIS 4 billion in 2019; This is due to losses amounting to NIS 643 million in the Israel Post attributed to the corona year, and expenses of more than NIS 950 million in respect of retirement benefits for employees at the Haifa Post and Port prior to their privatization.
The operating profit data make it possible to examine the decrease in the companies 'profitability due to the corona, less the one-time events, and indeed these data indicate a decrease of about NIS 350 million in the companies' profitability.
The corona also led to a decrease in companies' revenues, amounting to NIS 1.2 billion compared to 2019; The decrease in revenue is largely attributed (NIS 900 million) to the decrease in the electricity tariff and the volume of electricity consumption. The rest stems from a decline in revenues for Israel Post, Rafael, and Israel Railways. The profitability of companies is an important index, but the aggregate data are mainly affected by the large companies. Thus, a study of the data reveals that about 94% of the profits are generated from only three government companies: the Electric Company (1.7 billion, 59% of the profits), the Israel Ports Company (NIS 560 million), and IAI (NIS 460 million).
Upon taking office, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that government companies must pay dividends and reduce the government deficit. However, the state's revenue from dividends in 2020 amounted to only NIS 44 million, compared with NIS 681 million in 2019, and NIS 105 million in 2018. At the same time, it was reported in Calcalist that the privatization of the companies has greater potential in increasing the state's revenues, and this report also states that between 2003 and 2018, the state put more than NIS 17 billion into its coffers in this way.
The chapter in the report that deals with the Israel Postal Company does not reveal numbers that were not known until today: the post office is in a deep crisis, and ended 2020 with a huge loss of NIS 643 million, partly as a result of the damage caused by the corona plague.
Six years after the signing of the company's convalescence agreement, and three years after the government's decision to privatize it, the move is still waiting for a new director for the companies' authority to promote it. Israel Post CEO Danny Goldstein has already held meetings with candidates to purchase 20% of the mail in the first phase of privatization, through which the Post hopes to raise at least NIS 200 million.
Along with the delay in privatization, one of the challenges facing the post office is the adoption of the recommendations of the Rosen Committee for Internal Mail Reform, which will remove the exclusivity in mail distribution. These recommendations are awaiting legislation.
The report of the Companies Authority also details the progress of the new efficiency agreement that the Israel Post signed with the employees in December last year. This agreement includes the departure of 300 postal employees in three stages in the years 2020-2022. spread.
The report also reveals that in order to finance the efficiency plan that Israel Post signed with the employees, it entered into an agreement for loans and a credit line of up to NIS 400 million, of which about NIS 200 million had already been transferred to the post office in February 2021.
The Companies Authority is a government unit usually affiliated with the Ministry of Finance, except for a brief episode in which it was under the authority of the Digital Minister. The Authority advises and monitors government companies for the government. However, behind these big words lie mainly two functions: promoting privatization and promoting appointments. Today, there are about 70 government companies that employ about 55,000 workers, 17 of whom are considered the main companies.
The Companies Authority advises the Ministerial Committee on Privatization, and it pushes and manages privatization on the part of the government. According to the current worldview, any company engaged in competitive activity, or engaged in the provision of a service that can be efficiently provided by the private market, should transfer control of it from the government to non-governmental entities. Another component of this concept is that even in the case of a company that has good arguments for leaving government, some of its shares should be issued to the public thus improving its performance and corporate governance, developing the capital market and increasing the company’s sources of funding. Since 1986, 98 companies have ceased to be government-owned.
Another important matter that the Companies Authority manages is the appointments in government companies. The Government Companies Law sets many rules for the appointment of senior executives in companies (directors, ombudsmen, accountants), and the Companies Authority is a key factor in this process. In her case.
Although more than 4 months have passed since Lieberman entered the Treasury, the identity of the next director of the Companies Authority has not yet been announced. Ram Blinkov, who serves as director general of the Ministry of Finance, also serves as director of the authority at this stage. In addition to the recognized goals of the Companies Authority - improving the companies' profitability and innovation - Blinkov notes that in 2022