Public transport firm deficits growing
The government will have to act swiftly to stop the waste of state funds by public companies, as the latter cannot get credit on the markets and, despite the laying off of staff, are still seeing their deficits swell. The annual financial data for public transport companies, in particular, lead to just one conclusion: that their financial problems are not due to the swollen number of their employees but the very way these companies are run, with salaries that do not correspond with employee productivity and inadequate utilization of each enterprise’s real estate. The financial data of the transport companies have now been uploaded on the Internet following the requirements of Greece’s three main creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They have also demanded that the debts of the transport companies be incorporated into the nation’s public debt. The country’s only public transport corporation not to have uploaded its 2009 financial report yet is the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), which has secured an extension until end-July, when its streamlining program will also probably be announced.
