Romania’s Government has asked the largest power producer Hidroelectrica to pay additional dividends worth RON 650 million (EUR 141.3 million).

As the state has an 80% stake in Hidroelectrica, the Government will get RON 520 million (EUR 113 million) from the company’s reserves. The rest of the money will go to the minority shareholder, investment fund Fondul Proprietatea.

Hidroelectrica thus joins the group of companies which the Government asked to pay additional dividends. These include Romgaz, Conpet, Transelectrica, Transgaz and Nuclearelectrica.

Granting these funds to the budget doesn’t represent a problem, prime minister Mihai Tudose said yesterday. It is the same thing if companies pay the dividends now or six months later, Tudose argued. However, these state-owned firms already paid dividends related to the previous year’s profit.

editor@romania-insider.com