Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Announces Privatisation Of State-Owned Enterprises: “Government’s Job Is Not To Do Business But…”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the privatisation of all state-owned enterprises except those deemed strategically important, as per latest reports. This decision was made during a review meeting in Islamabad regarding matters related to the Ministry of Privatisation and Privatisation Commission.

The meeting included a presentation of the Privatisation Program 2024-29 roadmap, which outlines plans for privatising power distribution companies. Sharif instructed federal ministries to collaborate with the Privatisation Commission and take necessary actions accordingly.

“Government’s job is not to do business but to ensure a business and investment-friendly environment,” Pakistan’s PM said.

The reason behind this is Pakistan PM’s belief that the privatisation of state-owned enterprises would help the government provide quality services to the people by saving the taxpayers’ money.

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The privatisation process of all the institutions will be broadcasted live including the live telecast of Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited’s (PIA) privatisation which comprises, bidding and other important procedures.

A team of experts is appointed as part of Privatisation Commission to make the process faster and quick. As per the report, the priority is to privatise all the loss-making state-owned enterprises. Many federal ministers attended the review meeting led by PM Sharif which includes PM’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal, Jam Kamal Khan, Musaddik Malik, Awais Ahmed Leghari, Khawaja Asif, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Abdul Aleem Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema, and other senior officers.

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During the review meeting, it was also announced that the pre-qualification process for privatising PIA is expected to finish by the end of this month.

The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) approved 24 state-owned enterprises for the privatisation program. The committee instructed the privatisation ministry to discuss the timing of privatisation for each entity in collaboration with the relevant ministries in Pakistan.