The aim of this article is to analyse the regulatory framework that determines the agency problem in state-owned enterprises, focusing on the legal nature of the State Treasury as a shareholder and the corporate objectives of these entities. The agency problem concerns the relationship between the shareholder (principal) and the manager (agent) and assumes an inherent conflict within this relationship. The analysis conducted in this article leads to the conclusion that the very structure of the State Treasury as an abstract legal entity, represented by a political body, generates significant challenges related to the agency problem. Furthermore, the statutory objective of exercising shareholder rights – achieving sustainable growth in share value while considering the state’s economic policy – ties decision-making to political factors, complicating the determination of corporate officers’ responsibilities. One potential approach to mitigating the agency problem is to define the objectives of state-owned enterprises explicitly in their statutes or resolutions of general meetings.