The dividend payments made to the government by the companies it owns doubled to Rs13.53 billion in the last fiscal year 2014-15, a government report said.

According to the annual report on loan and share investment in public enterprises (PEs) 2014-15 prepared by the Financial Comptroller General’s Office (FCGO), dividend payouts soared to Rs13.53 billion from Rs6.63 billion in the previous fiscal 2013-14.

The dividend payments received by the government stood at a healthy 10 percent in the last fiscal against the total share investments of Rs137.64 billion as of the last fiscal year, according to the report.

Over the last several years, the amount of dividends distributed by the state-owned companies has remained disappointing against the investment as several of them are operating in the red.

Since the fiscal year 1998-99, the government has received a total of Rs89.97 billion in dividends from the PEs, as per the report. In the last fiscal year, the government’s share investment increased by 13.09 percent.

Deputy Financial Comptroller General Ramesh Siwakoti said that dividend payouts surged due to the higher contribution of a number of PEs like Nepal Telecom, Nepal Rastra Bank and Agricultural Development Bank.

“It was not because PEs in general improved their performance,” he added. “Withheld dividends might have been received in the last fiscal year pushing up the overall figure.”

Meanwhile, the government has recovered loans totalling Rs72.72 billion including principal and interest against the total credit issue of Rs158.58 billion.

The principal repayment amounted to Rs39.45 billion while interest payment stood at Rs33.26 billion. This means that the PEs still owe the government massive sums in outstanding loans.

In the last fiscal year, the government received a total of Rs2 billion in principal repayment and Rs1.94 billion in interest payment, according to the FCGO.

The PEs have received more loan investments from foreign donors than from domestic sources. The report shows that 58 percent of the loans received by the PEs are foreign loans.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has received the highest amount of loans and share investments from the government.

Under this arrangement, the government obtains credit from foreign donors and relends the money to the NEA after signing a subsidiary agreement with it.

Meanwhile, the report shows that the government has made share investments totalling Rs775.9 million in PEs which do not exist anymore.

Likewise, a whopping Rs1.93 billion in loans has been issued to currently non-existent PEs, according to the report.