Kathmandu, May 29 E

Only 26 out of the 37 public enterprises (PEs) operating in the country had booked profit in last fiscal 2017-18.

The Annual Status Update of the PEs of 2017-18 unveiled by the Ministry of Finance today showed that the overall financial status of PEs operating in Nepal slightly improved compared to previous fiscal.

In the previous fiscal year also, 26 PEs had booked profit.

As per the report, the operating income of PEs increased by 21.27 per cent compared to fiscal 2016- 17. Similarly, net profit of PEs also increased by 3.31 per cent in fiscal 2017-18 compared to the previous year.

However, the dividend that the government received from PEs under non-tax revenue came up by 27.23 per cent in 2017- 18 compared to fiscal 2016- 17, according to the report.

As per report, Nepal Telecom was the top gainer in fiscal year 2017-18 with Rs 14.48 billion profit. It was followed by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal with Rs 4.43 billion, Rastriya Banijya Bank with Rs 3.65 billion, Nepal Oil Corporation with Rs 3.58 billion and Agricultural Development Bank with Rs 3.44 billion.

The 37 different PEs, which are in operation, are broadly classified into four categories namely, service oriented, industry oriented, service oriented and public utility PEs.