Moldova’s 20 largest companies with predominantly state-owned capital ended 2025 with a combined net profit of more than 2 billion lei. This is nearly five times more than in 2019, when their combined financial result stood at 401.9 million lei. In terms of the overall figure, the public sector is showing one of its best results in recent years. But the record profit alone does not answer the main question: has the state truly become more effective at managing its assets, or were these financial results driven by the specific characteristics of certain regulated and monopolistic markets?
The list includes the largest state-owned companies in the energy, transportation, telecommunications, industrial, and infrastructure sectors: Energocom, Termoelectrica, RED-Nord, Moldtelecom, Chisinau International Airport, the National Lottery of Moldova, Metalferos, Franzeluța, Cricova, Moldova Post, Moldova Railways, and other enterprises. These are very different companies—both in terms of their business models and the condition of their assets, the level of competition, and the state’s role in generating their revenues.
Therefore, the combined 2 billion lei cannot automatically be interpreted as an equally successful result for the entire group. Some enterprises operate in competitive markets, others hold natural or state monopolies, and still others depend on regulated tariffs, budgetary decisions, or large government contracts. Without data on each company, it is impossible to determine which ones specifically drove the bulk of the growth and how sustainable this result will be.
It is telling that the list includes the National Lottery of Moldova, which separately reported a net profit of 290.6 million lei for 2025. It alone accounts for about 14.5% of the aggregate profit of the twenty largest state-owned companies. Its financial results grew by 19.3%, and total transfers to the budget reached 504.6 million lei. This illustrates just how heavily the group’s overall figure can depend on a few of its most profitable enterprises.
Victoria Belous, chair of the parliamentary committee on economy, budget, and finance, attributes this growth to efficiency-enhancing measures implemented by the Public Property Agency. In her assessment, state-owned enterprises have recovered from the 2020 pandemic and the energy crisis, which impacted the 2022 results. Record profits, she said, mean additional capital for the companies’ development and revenue for the budget, since approximately half of the net profit goes to the state.
If this proportion is applied to the total reported amount, potential transfers could amount to about 1 billion lei. However, the actual amount depends on decisions made for each company: the state must choose between immediately transferring profits to the budget and retaining funds within the companies for infrastructure modernization, debt repayment, and investments.
This is particularly important for companies that have faced asset depreciation and capital shortages for years. High profits can improve the budget’s condition this year, but excessive withdrawal of funds could delay necessary investments and ultimately lead to new government expenditures. For energy, transportation, and utility companies, the quality of their financial performance is determined not only by the size of their profits but also by how much they invest in infrastructure reliability and reducing future costs.
There is another important aspect. A state-owned company’s profit is not always synonymous with productivity growth. It may increase due to business expansion and cost reductions, but also because of rate hikes, favorable market conditions, a monopoly position, or one-time revenues. To assess the true effectiveness of management, we need metrics on revenue, operating profit, debt, investments, labor productivity, and the quality of services provided for each company.
A record 2 billion lei is undoubtedly a positive sign following the crisis years. State assets are no longer viewed solely as a source of losses and budgetary risks. But the next step should not be to showcase a single aggregate figure, but rather to ensure greater transparency: which enterprises turned a profit, what drove that growth, how much was transferred to the state, and how much was allocated to development.
It is precisely this level of detail that will allow us to understand whether this represents a systemic improvement in the management of state property or simply strong results from a few large companies. For now, the published figure indicates a recovery in the public sector’s profitability, but it does not yet prove that all of its structural problems have been resolved. //July 15, 2026 – InfoMarket.