Colombia’s finance minister announced Thursday that seven public power companies will be sold in the departments of Boyaca, Meta, Huila, and Nariño.
Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry said that the sale of these companies would be part of a plan to privatize both public power companies and 10% of the country’s oil company Ecopetrol.
Echeverry said that the sale of the power companies would grant the government $840 million and $1.12 billion. The sales of Ecopetrol stock are budgeted to bring in at least $1.68 billion.
The move to privatize power companies began in 2007, when former President Alvaro Uribe signed an agreement with the IMF to sell a group of power companies. Since then the process has been held up by a number of lawsuits.