ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin on Friday emphasised the need to accelerate the pace of privatisation for bringing efficiency and competitiveness in operations of the State Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

The finance minister chaired the first meeting of the sub-committee of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) on SOEs and Privatization deliberated on the public private partnership (PPP) and strengthening board of directors (BoD) of the respective SOEs for taking firm decisions to improve management of these entities. An official said the government gave an overview on privatisation process to the private members of the EAC and shared legal and administrative challenges for privatisation.

The finance minister said a proactive approach would ensure that unnecessary delays in privatisation due to multiple stakeholders are prevented. The sub-committee reviewed the portfolio of SOEs for privatisation on basis of strategic importance, performance, efficiency, and profitability to suggest a way forward.

The members deliberated over the triage policy of the government and discussed the cross-cutting issues related to financial and human resource management in this regard. Private member Sultan Ali Allana stated that privatisation is a complex subject matter, which poses significant challenges. Federal Minister for Privatisation and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity updated the sub-committee about progress made with reference to privatisation of SOEs to date. They also apprised the finance minister about various legal and administrative challenges in the way of privatisation process related to different entities.

Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain, secretary privatization as well as private members Arif Habib and Sultan Ali Allana participated in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021