TACV Cape Verde Airlines has become a high fiscal risk for the country, said Cape Verde’s Minister of Finance and Planning, Cristina Duarte, during the recent meeting with members of the Budget Support Group.

Cited by the island country’s press, Duarte justified her statement by calling attention to the financial situation of the flagship airline, which worsened in 2012, forcing the company’s management and the government to take steps to reverse the existing situation.

“These measures are already bearing fruit and the accounting figures for the first half of 2013 were better than those for the same period in 2012,” she said, while acknowledging that a solution placing the company on the road to sustainability had yet to be found.

Duarte emphasised that TACV needs to “increase invoicing and tighten and contain costs”.

The Budget Support Group again recommended “special and urgent attention to reforming TACV”, as it had done in the previous assessment, indicating measures such as revision of the policy for granting facilities, closing relatively unprofitable international routes and improving efficiency of the company’s operations. (macauhub)