Finding balance 2023: Benchmarking performance and building climate resilience in Pacific State-Owned Enterprises

This study reviews the historical financial performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in nine Pacific island economies,1 identifies the risks that state-owned power utilities are facing as a result of climate change, and assesses the policy mechanisms that are available to governments and SOEs to improve their resiliency and sustainability. The study focuses on the period 2015–2022, thereby including the impact of the first 2 years of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its associated border closures and lockdowns.

The study shows that, while average SOE returns have improved over the past decade, they still fall far short of covering their costs of capital. Only two of the nine SOE portfolios produced a return sufficient to cover capital costs between 2015 and 2020. Three produced average returns on assets (ROAs) and/or average returns on equity (ROEs) below zero over this period.