Privatisation of SOEs: Minister explains mandate of caretaker govt

ISLAMABAD: A few buyers of state-owned entities (SOEs) claimed demurrage from the Privatisation Division for delaying in handing over managements despite payment of the privatisation proceeds, disclosed Caretaker Minister for Privatisation, Fawad Hassan Fawad in a press conference on Thursday.

The incumbent caretaker federal minister along with Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Murtaza Solangi in a joint press conference addressed on Thursday explained the mandate of the caretaker government in the privatisation of SOEs.

The minister further said that the caretaker government arranged finance for the PIA to continue its operations following the suspension of its flight operations and other businesses in June 2023. “The caretaker prime minister directed me to ensure that the PIA will not shut down its operations,” the minister said.

In the first phase, he said that the PIA would restructure its core business and in the second phase, non-core business would be taken care of.

Fawad also said that the caretaker government had not used power according to their whims and wishes. “The previous government of PDM has extended authority to the caretaker government through an amendment in Article 238 for continuous of privatisation and other business,” added the minister.

Fawad Hassan Fawad said the privatisation process has certain timelines which cannot be skipped, otherwise, the financial costs of delay in these transactions will directly burden the national economy causing an increase in fiscal deficit and an upsurge in inflation.

He clarified that the caretaker government has not added any institution or organisation in the list of “to be privatised” entities rather these are all those which were enlisted after due deliberations by the elected governments.

The minister said the media should avoid “baseless news” and the government is open to all queries or confusion regarding any issue and it be given a chance to respond and clarify the position.

Murtaza Solangi, on Thursday, said under the Election Act 2017, all political parties will be given 54 days for election campaigns.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023