ECONOMY

State firms cut salary spending in half

While the government is examining the application of a unified salary scheme for state corporations, the effort to contain salary costs is already bearing fruit, as, according to Finance Ministry figures, expenditure on salaries has been cut in half in the last two-and-a-half years at the country?s 12 biggest state companies.

The data from January to April showed that from the 1.4 billion euros which went toward salary costs for those 12 major state firms in December 2009, the figure dropped to less than 700 million euros in April 2012.

This is due to the reduction in the number of employees and significant pay cuts. The average annual salary of employees at those companies is this year expected to drop to two-thirds of the 2009 level: It is set to drop to 36,000 euros from 53,600 euros in 2009.

While there are certain public companies which are still feeding off the state budget without the central government having a clear picture of the figures involved, there are now plans to locate and compile data on their operational costs.

Each budget-funded firm will now have to submit its full financial data on staff numbers, revenues, salaries, expenditure etc to the government?s Integrated Information System.

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