By S. Zisimos
[email protected]
With negotiations ready to begin this month over the all-important third review of the Greek program, the country's memorandum-mandated privatization fund (HRADF) must accelerate efforts to meet targets in terms of revenue flowing into state coffers from sell-offs of public assets in the bailout-dependent country.
Beyond targets in terms of euros and cents, a stepped up round of successful privatizations will send also a message to would-be investors that the country's economy is recovering and that the leftist-rightist coalition government is sincere when it says it welcomes and facilitates foreign direct investment - especially amid the more-or-less antagonistic treatment of Hellas Gold's significant mining investment in northern Greece and bureaucratic "red tape" plaguing the massive Helleniko real estate redevelopment in southeast coastal Athens.
The goal for the 2016 to August 2018 period remains six billion euros from privatizations in Greece.
Based on figures released by the fund, officially called the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF), whose 2016 results were released this week, 447.7 million euros were collected in 2016.
For the current year, the fund has collected roughly two billion euros. However, 1.2 billion euros of this figure comes from the 40-year management concession for 14 regional airports awarded to Fraport Greece.
Other privatizations that appear as "mature" for the current year are the pending sale of the rail operator (Trainose) and the privatization of the Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTh) via the sale of a majority of its shares.
The target for 2017 remains 3.5 billion euros.
Since its creation in 2011, the fund has collected 3.44 billion euros until the last day of 2016, a far cry from a "50-billion-euro" target uttered by representatives of the then "troika" of creditors in February 2011.
