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Govt Identifies 44 More Entities for Privatization

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)-backed first review of Pakistan’s bleeding public sector enterprises has identified 44 entities for privatization, reported Express Tribune.

These companies include some of the power companies that are causing big losses, despite a 50 percent reduction in losses in the first year of the current government, the newspaper report said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), supported by the World Bank (WB), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), had set a structural benchmark to review 84 commercial state-owned enterprises (SOEs).


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According to the “SOEs Triage: Reforms and Way Forward” report released by the Ministry of Finance the review has also been completed. The report has also outlined that 39 SOEs will be kept by the government while 44 SOEs will be privatized. The one remaining company has been planned to be liquidated.

There are around 212 SOEs, including the subsidiaries. However, the review report focused only on 85 commercial SOEs, which mainly operate in seven sectors.

The report showed that overall revenues of all the SOEs were Rs. 4 trillion in 2018-19 while the book value of their assets was Rs. 19 trillion. The report showed that in the fiscal year 2018-19, the commercial SOEs collectively recorded net losses of Rs. 143 billion, which was almost half of the losses reported in the fiscal year before at Rs. 287 billion.

In 2013-14, the SOEs had recorded an overall net profit of Rs. 204 billion, which drastically fell to Rs. 61 billion in the following year and has been on a sharp decline since then, clocking in at an aggregate loss now.

These SOEs also employ approximately 0.8 percent of the total workforce or over 450,000 people.

This is the first time that the government has given timelines for the restructuring of these entities. The schedule for privatization shows that the privatization process for power distribution companies will be completed in four years.

However, the government will not put up any of the loss-making entities for privatization until June 2023 – when the country will be amidst general elections preparations.

The progress on timelines will be monitored by the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) regularly through the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) being established in the Finance Division, according to the report.


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The 14 entities, planned to be retained under government ownership, require immediate reforms and possible restructuring, the report added.

Among these are Pakistan Railways, Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Post Office, Water and Power Development Authority, Pakistan Television, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, and Printing Corporation of Pakistan.

The ten SOEs on an active privatization list include Pakistan Steel Mills, SME bank, PPL, and partial divestment of OGDCL. Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company, and Utility Stores Corporation are also potential privatization candidates.

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