ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Pakistan could have avoided losses worth hundreds of billions of rupees if the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills had been shut down decades ago, stressing the need for timely privatisation of loss-making public enterprises.
Speaking on programme, Asif argued that delays in restructuring and privatising state-owned entities have placed a heavy burden on the national exchequer. He said Pakistan Steel Mills continued to incur massive financial losses over the years and claimed that closing the facility in 1991 could have prevented the accumulation of losses running into hundreds of billions of rupees.
The minister also highlighted the case of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), saying that postponing its privatisation since 2016 had cost the country an additional Rs600 billion. According to Asif, those funds could have been directed towards development projects and other national priorities.
He acknowledged that governments in the past had not always aligned national priorities with the country’s economic needs. However, he said the current administration, led by Shehbaz Sharif, was actively pursuing a privatisation agenda aimed at reducing financial losses and improving efficiency in public-sector enterprises.
Asif revealed that power distribution companies, including GEPCO, FESCO and LESCO, are expected to be offered for privatisation within the next three months.
The defence minister also referred to earlier economic reforms, noting that former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto oversaw significant privatisation initiatives. He said several banks privatised during those periods later became profitable institutions.
Commenting on governance matters, Asif criticised the concentration of positions on public boards, claiming that some bureaucrats had served on an unusually high number of boards simultaneously, raising concerns about oversight and accountability.