The Australian

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Athens to sell off state-owned enterprises to cut debt
The Australian

The Greek government announced long-delayed plans to privatise state-owned companies as part of its attempt to fix the country’s public finances and chip away at the massive public debt.

Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the government would move to privatise 49 per cent of the operations division of unprofitable state-owned railways company OSE.

It will also privatise state holdings in various casinos, sell a 39 per cent stake in the Greek post office, and dispose of stakes in a variety of state-owned services including the waterworks companies of Greece’s two major cities.

He said the government is also looking at other opportunities to privatise state assets, either through stake sales or through privatised management contracts, including the country’s ports, airports and vast state property holdings.

Mr Papaconstantinou said the government is also restructuring Greece’s natural gas monopoly to prepare it for privatisation.