The privatization of the Post Office is a wrong move. The result of the Money.it survey

The privatization of the Post Office is a wrong move.
This is the response to the survey launched by Money.it after the government gave the green light to the placing on the market of "a share of the shareholding held by the Ministry of Economy", with also the possibility of resorting to shareholder ownership popular.
As can be seen from the results of the survey, which we remind you does not have a scientific but only indicative value as it was not carried out on a sample basis, 90% of the over 2,000 respondents said they were against the hypothesis of further privatization of Poste Italiane.
An authentic plebiscite, which highlights how Italians have always been reluctant to privatize their giant subsidiaries, especially when it comes to a company that generates profits like Poste Italiane.
In fact, the 2022 budget for Poste closed with a net profit of 1.7 billion – an increase of 12.5% compared to 2021 -, with the data for the first three quarters of 2023 also very encouraging in this regard.
Privatization of Post Office: readers against The Money.it survey is clear: for readers, further privatization of Poste Italiane would be a mistake.
However, the government needs to raise cash and the path now seems to have been traced after the Council of Ministers decided in favor of placing further quotas on the market.
Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti guaranteed that the sale of Poste "will guarantee services and employment", with the Mef maintaining the controlling stake.
However, the feeling is that the same fate will soon also befall Eni, Ferrovie dello Stato, Rai and Rai Way.
The left thus wondered whether the pot could be worth the candle: "The disposal of 20% of Poste could perhaps generate proceeds of 2.7 billion euros, but it would mean losing around 260 million euros in annual dividends." In fact, the company is in full health as the 2023 data also demonstrate after the excellent 2022 balance sheet.
At the moment the MEF holds 29.26% of the shares of Poste Italiane, with a further 35% in the hands of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
The state presence is consequently strong also considering that 23.08% belongs to institutional investors, with individual investors having just over 12%.
The government is thus considering selling the shares held by the MEF – instead keeping those of CDP – with a forecast of proceeds of around 3.9 billion, but this hypothesis was totally rejected by the survey.