.
This week marks a milestone, indeed, in the government “not so” privatisation programme, as Limassol port finally passed into the hands of more aptly equipped operators, Dubai’s DP World.
Although this had been a setback in the Anastasiades administration’s initial plan to sell off some EUR 1.4 bln worth state-owned operations and assets, nevertheless, it was a good compromise, considering that the rule of less state involvement has been guaranteed.
But this does not mean that the government should back down on its pledges to privatise other assets.
Already, reminiscent of the days when Cyprus Airways trade unionists were trying to save their own skins and sent their colleagues at Eurocypria to the lions, now we have Cyta staff who want the government to offload its loss-bleeding subsidiary Cyta Hellas, simply to secure their own jobs. After they achieve that, rest assured that these same trade unionists will tell the public with grand declarations that the state-owned telco has been saved, not realising that only an outright sale will ever save it.
Unfortunately, the government has already fallen victim of its own success, having managed to rescue the economy within three years, social partners are now saying that more reforms and measures are unnecessary.
Quite the contrary, if the government does not proceed with further privatisations, in the worst case by seeking strategic partners instead of buyouts, the state payroll will once again expand, greater pressures will be imposed on the state to bail out pension funds of already well-rewarded civil servants and semi-government employees, and we will be back to where we were in 2011-2012 when the fiscal deficit was getting out of control, and you all know what happened after that.
In the meantime, if the government is afraid of ruffling feathers, just 13 months away from the next presidential elections, it should seek to offload other assets in the form of leasing state properties to investors in leisure projects, education, health and technology.
What Cyprus lacks is a sustainable economy with constant revenue flows. We cannot live with the hope that some day the oil and gas exploration will produce revenues. By then, we may be bankrupt again.
