By the definition used for this study, there are 34 non-financial public sector enterprises, including YPF SA. They have a total of 111 thousand employees, equivalent to 39% of the permanent and temporary employees of the National Government, with salaries similar to those of the private companies of the sector.
Some companies show positive results (mainly YPF, followed by Nucleoeléctrica Argentina and other small companies). These companies coexist with others which show imbalances, not recording the contributions from the National Treasury, such as ENARSA (former IEASA), Aerolíneas Argentinas, and AySA, all of them with negative balances of more than ARS100 billion in 2021.
- In 2021 State-owned enterprises received ARS719 billion from the National Treasury, 84% higher than originally budgeted.
- Assistance to cover the imbalances of State-owned enterprises has grown to values equivalent to 1.5% of GDP in 2021.
- In many cases the deficits are not the result of inefficiencies but of tariff policies which affect their revenues. (mostly ENARSA, AYSA and OPERADORA FERROVIARIA).
- State-owned enterprises account for almost 60% of the real direct investment of the public sector, mainly AySA, Enarsa and ADIF.
- There are no mechanisms to ensure compliance with laws that require the Treasury not to transfer funds to companies whose budgets are not approved by the Executive Branch.
- The fiscal risks arising from the companies are mainly explained by two lawsuits in the U.S. against YPF for its nationalization process and for environmental damages, since sovereign guarantees and financial and commercial debts of the sector are not significant.
