The federal cabinet is likely to approve State-Owned Enterprises Policy 2023 in the next meeting.
The Cabinet Committee of State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOE) meeting was held at the Finance Division today under the chair of Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar.
The principal agenda of the meeting was to conduct a comprehensive review and finalization of the State-Owned Enterprises Policy 2023, an initiative aimed at reforming and revitalizing Pakistan’s SOEs.
The committee engaged in constructive discussions, reviewing key elements of the policy in light of suggestions from the previous meetings, including governance structures, performance, and accountability mechanisms.
The finance minister said that the Policy represents a critical step towards restructuring and modernizing our SOEs and economy. She said our objective is to reduce the size of SOEs in the public sector as well as to make those who remain in the public sector to be more competitive, accountable, and responsive to the needs of our citizens. This policy will pave the way for a more efficient utilization of public resources and will enhance the overall economic landscape of Pakistan.
She underlined that the inconsistencies, contradictions, and ambiguities in the relevant laws and rules have to be corrected to improve corporate governance in the SOEs. She said that the code of conduct for Boards of Governance in the SOEs has to be formulated and implemented in letter and spirit. She also emphasized the importance of enhanced scrutiny of the “fit and proper criterion” by the regulators.
Dr Akhtar underscored that the mismanagement of the SOEs due to the status quo cannot be allowed to continue and dividends have to be improved through enhanced efficiency, transparency, and sustainability of SOEs.
The finance minister said that the cabinet committee on SOEs and the Central Monitoring Unit have to play a major role in ensuring the business plans of the SOEs are in line with the sectoral priorities.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Privatization Fawad Hassan Fawad, Minister for Communication, Maritime, & Railways Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Minister for Power & Petroleum Muhammad Ali, Advisor to the PM on Finance Dr Waqar Masood, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jahanzaib Khan, Chairman SECP, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers.
Wow, non elected person who no backing of the people of Pakistan are making policies.