
The state-owned companies, mainly the energy companies OSHEE, OST, KESH and the water supply companies, owe the state budget an amount of about 58 billion lek or about 580 million euros at the current exchange rate.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the obligations in these values are the latest data that belong to the 7 months of the previous year.
The liabilities include unpaid taxes to the General Directorate of Taxes and debts for non-repayment of loans received over the years, for which the government had entered as guarantor.
According to the Ministry of Finance, KESH, which manages the energy production sector, has the biggest debt to the budget with liabilities to the state treasury worth 36.8 billion ALL.
The Energy Transmission Operator (OST) also has a debt of 8 billion lek, (80 million euro) to the Ministry of Finance, while the Distribution Operator OSHEE has significantly reduced its obligations to the government with a value of only 2.7 billion lek or 27 million euro .
The public water supply companies have also accumulated liabilities that exceed ALL 10 billion to the Ministry of Finance.
Public companies are involved in projects that are supported by loans, mostly foreign. The companies have taken over their repayments with government guarantees. In most cases, companies have failed to repay loans, leaving the burden on the guarantor, in this case the government.
In the framework of the reform in the energy sector, in December 2020, the plan of measures to reduce arrears in the electricity sector was successfully finalized. The plan provides a series of measures to prevent the creation of arrears and discipline payments between energy sector companies and key related parties. But despite the rules, the accumulation of liabilities remains a worrying issue in the country's public finances.
So the total of mutual obligations between public companies and the government reached a total value of 172 billion ALL (1.7 billion euros) at the end of the 8th month of 2024.
Until the month of September 2024, OSHEE Group, sh.a., reports that the accumulated liabilities of water supply and sewerage companies turn out to be in the value of about 36.7 billion ALL. Of which, about ALL 21 billion are liabilities invoiced to the company and about ALL 16 billion are liabilities for late interest.
Thus OSHEE's liabilities to KESH reached 47 billion ALL at the end of the 8th month of 2024, and OST's liabilities to KESH over 11 billion ALL. This amount of liabilities to KESH which amounts to 58 billion lek (580 million euros) is sufficient for the construction of a major work for the production of energy or for the repayment of all the obligations that KESH has to the government.