Definition of "parastatal"

parastatal

/paɹəˈsteɪtəl/

noun
plural parastatals
1. (chiefly Africa) A company, agency, or intergovernmental organization that possesses political clout and is separate from the government, but whose activities serve the state, either directly or indirectly.
adjective
not comparable
1. Pertaining to such a company or group.
  Quotations
  ‘Parastatal’ organizations – local councils, representatives of business, the Red Cross – had been increasingly filling the gap left by the government’s maladministration [...].
  2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, Penguin, published 2010, page 918