33 SOEs and beyond

THE Cabinet's decision last week to shut down 33 inactive state-owned enterprises (SOEs) marks a long-overdue first step towards reform.

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Among those on the list was Mihin Lanka, the infamous vanity airline project of the Rajapaksa era, which for years drained public funds with little to show in return. For too long, the Treasury has carried the dead weight of inefficient, politically captured SOEs. If the Government is serious about pulling the country out of bankruptcy and placing it on a sustainable growth path, reforming these state-owned dinosaurs must become a national priority.