New deadlines have been set for the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), government official revealed.
The government signaled its plans to privatize the two entities which have been causing massive loss to the national exchequer. This was shared with the visiting IMF delegation.
“We are in the process of separating PIA’s core and non-core activities and will approve the transaction structure for offering a minority stake to a strategic partner and/or the general public by end-December 2016 and complete the bidding process by August 2017,” Pakistan’s government informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The bidding process for PSM is said to be completed by June of next year. The privatization of PSM was resumed by the government after it was stalled by inconclusive discussions with provincial government of Sindh over transfer of ownership.
Apart from PIA and PSM, privatization of Kot Addu Power Company (KAPCO), a major generation company, is also expected to be completed next year. According to the government, it is expected that by February, an Initial Public Offering (IPO) will be conducted for FESCO. The IPO will follow for IESCO and also LESCO, later that year.
“We will finalize the transaction of SME Bank by end-December 2016, the divestment of government’s shares in Mari Petroleum Limited (MPCL) to existing shareholders by October 2016 and the IPO for SLIC by end-March 2017”, the government of Pakistan said.
IMF Mission Chief Herald Finger, through video conference, suggested that Pakistan should devalue its currency by 5-20%. By doing so, Pakistan will be able to enhance country’s export which have been declining as of late.
The pace of Privatization program was also suggested to be accelerated along with power sector reforms.
An auto and football enthusiast, you can contact Syed Zarar at syed.zarar@propakistani.pk. For more discussions, contact him on Facebook (fb.com/TacticallyInept). He tweets at: @TacticallyInept.