On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Pakistan will privatise all state-owned enterprises, including the loss-making Pakistan International Airlines. The latest development has broadened the government’s initial plans to make only loss-making state firms private.
The announcement by the cash-strapped Pak government to privatise state-run enterprises (barring strategic ones) comes a day after the country started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a new long-term Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
According to media reports, Sharif announced this while chairing a review meeting on the privatisation process of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The Pakistan prime minister said that apart from strategic state-owned firms, all other companies — profitable or loss-making — will be privatised, reported Geo News.
He directed all the ministries in his government to take action and cooperate with the Privatisation Commission.
Transparency in the privatisation process
Stressing the need for the privatisation process to be transparent, Sharif ordered the privatisation process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to be televised (including the bidding and other important steps). The privatisation of PIA is in its final stage, the report said.
The ailing national flag carrier of Pakistan stood as the country’s third-highest public sector loss-making entity. The PIA needs Pakistani Rs 11.5 billion/month solely for servicing its debts.
Also, the process of privatisation of other institutions will be broadcast live, the report said.
During the meeting, a roadmap of the Privatisation Programme 2024-2029 was also presented, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Ministers were informed that on a priority basis, loss-making SOEs were to be privatised and that a pre-qualified panel of experts was being appointed in the Privatisation Commission to speed up the sell-off process, the report said.