The Minister welcomed Parliament's oversight responsibilities over SOEs, pointing out that infrastructure programmes of SOEs required such vigilance. The Minister gave an account of the global economic downturn to put into context the economic challenges of SOEs, especially sources of funding for SOEs like Eskom and Transnet. The Minister mentioned the $3.75 billion loan Eskom received from the World Bank whilst also making it clear that Eskom was still in need of more capital to complete its infrastructure build programme. The Minister also talked about remuneration packages for Chief Executive Officers in light of the global recession and referred members to a document that was drawn up in 2007 by the DPE as a guiding document for SOE executive remuneration.