Govt aims to privatise up to 50 SOEs in next 3-4 years: minister

Pakistan government plans to privatise up to 50 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the next 3 to 4 years, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema told a World Bank (WB) delegation on Monday.

Cheema met a delegation of Executive Directors (EDs) and Alternate Executive Directors (AEDs) from the World Bank Group (WBG), which arrived in Pakistan on Monday to review the implementation of $40 billion funding under the recently launched Country Partnership Framework.

During the meeting, the minister outlined the government’s priority to privatise the SOEs and shared that it aims to privatise up to 50 SOEs over the next 3-4 years, according to a statement shared by the Ministry for Economic Affairs.

“Minister Cheema outlined the government’s priority to privatise state-owned enterprises, recognising that approximately one-third of these SOEs are strategic assets.

“He reiterated the government’s goal to privatise the remaining SOEs in phases. In the first phase, the government is focusing on the privatisation of power distribution companies (discos), and in the second phase, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other SOEs are to be privatised,” the statement read.

PM Shehbaz, World Bank delegation discuss $40bn accord

The minister also emphasised the challenges currently faced by Pakistan’s power sector, including high tariffs for consumers, significant losses in line efficiency and ongoing efforts to achieve full cost recovery for the sector.

“He acknowledged that renewable energy resources and addressing line losses were among the main areas of focus for Pakistan’s energy strategy.”

During the meeting, the minister highlighted that Pakistan’s economy was on a positive trajectory with increased public sector development programme (PSDP) funding aimed at strengthening infrastructure and social development projects.

Meanwhile, the delegation assured World Bank’s strong support for Pakistan’s new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and affirmed that the WB to remain steadfast in its partnership with Pakistan to help achieve its development goal, according to the ministry statement.