Sell-off fund set to see changes

New Democracy party officials are stressing the need for the sell-off program to restart after its considerable delays in the year’s first half, with prospective Prime Minister Antonis Samaras intending to add more assets to the remit of the state privatization fund (TAIPED).

There will also be a change to the privatization fund’s board members to reflect the new political landscape.

Among the privatization plans that could fetch some desperately needed cash into state coffers are the concession contracts for the International Broadcasting Center building in Athens, where the Golden Hall mall is currently located, and the Egnatia Odos highway across northern Greece.

The privatization of the state lotteries — another mature project which has stalled — should be more lucrative.

Greece’s official creditors are particularly disappointed with the lack of progress in the privatizations, given that the budget had included a forecast for revenues of 3 billion euros from sell-offs this year. Sell-off earnings to date are virtually zero.

Ekathimerini.com