Italy: IRI and Others

Abstract

Public enterprises in Italy occupy a major role in the economy accounting for around 15 per cent of the non-agricultural labor force, 20 per cent of value added and 25 per cent of fixed investments.¹ Almost half of Italy’s fifty largest companies, in terms of turnover, are state owned. Apart from certain public utilities, such as electricity, where public ownership or control is prevalent in many countries, the Italian public sector controls around 70 per cent of banking and has a major presence in many industries and services (telecommunication, air and sea transport and highways, for example). A large number of these public enterprises had however been organized as private joint-stock or limited liability corporations, in which the government held the controlling interest (imprese a partecipazione statale), through three principal state-owned holding companies (SHCs) IRI (Istituto per la ricostruzione industriale), ENI (Ente nazionale idrocarburi), and EFIM (Ente partecipazioni e finanziamento industria manufatturiera).