IT is right to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with public-sector entities both in terms of viability of the business undertaken and the need for building public infrastructure. But the culprits are the relevant corrupt and incompetent ministries and their poor decision-making abilities that must be blamed for the failure of some critically important state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

As a matter of fact, privatisation of most public-sector enterprises in the past has neither substantially reduced the burden of our foreign debts nor improved the national economy. The successive governments preferred to remain dependent on foreign loans without doing much to improve the performance of the struggling units. Take, for instance, the case of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Everybody is talking about the losses it makes, but nobody talks about the reasons and those, say, who are responsible for the losses. The aviation minister who made the irresponsible statement about PIA pilots having fake degrees and certificates actually damaged the credibility of the national airline across the world much more than anything else in the last decade or so.

As far as Pakistan Steel Mills (SM) is concerned, if it is really the dead wood that the authorities keep describing it as, why is the government still paying salaries to its employees? Why have they not been offered any voluntary separation scheme? The PSM has also been delisted from the list of privatisation, as stated recently by the relevant minister, because of its poor condition and its outdated machinery.

Even more recently, a caretaker minister voiced the intention to privatise the State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC). This came as a chock as the SLIC appears to be among the most reliable institutions in the country, and it has not even been on the privatisation list. For sure, it is not a loss-making entity. One fails to understand the motive and logic behind such thoughts.

Moreover, the interim government seems to be taking advantage of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) whose proceedings/decisions, as per the legislation enacted by the coalition government itself, cannot be challenged in any court of law. That sounds intriguing.

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024