KARACHI: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh has said the government, as part of its austerity measures, has planned to close or privatise state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and ministries classified as “non-strategic”.

Mr Sheikh said that the government was looking at multiple SOEs and considering whether to privatise them or close them entirely, Dawn.com reported.

While speaking on DawnNewsTV programme Doosra Rukh with Nadir Guramani on Saturday evening, the federal minister emphasised that this move will not only relieve the government of a significant burden but also ensure a focus on “good governance”.

“These institutions, for the most part, generate losses and perform poorly,” he said. “They bring no benefit and people aren’t satisfied with their service.”

He added that the government was holding discussions about all federal institutions, aiming to privatise most of them.

“There are few that serve a strategic purpose… we need to downsize to ensure better governance.”

Asked about which institutions and ministries would be shut down, Mr Sheikh provided no names but emphasised that they would be either closed or merged with other ministries.

“We are either going to merge one ministry with the other, or we’ll reduce the amount of divisions within them. The federal government needs to focus on good governance, so it will only control those institutions that serve a strategic purpose.”

The minister stated that the measures intend to ensure lower expenditures, adding that the government had recently decided to stop offering jobs as well.

“We have banned [offering] jobs as a means to cut down on spending”. Mr Sheikh said. “Our institutions run on tax revenue and so far we are generating losses.

“We aim to maintain a very lean government,” he said.

The minister further stated that in addition to banning new job hirings, serving government officials will be prohibited from purchasing new cars and will be required to cover their own utility bills.

“We looked at how we could further reduce spending and made these decisions,” he maintained.

“Nobody can buy a new car and our cabinet members have said that they will not take additional salary and will pay their own utility bills,” he said, adding that ministers were discouraged from travelling in business class on foreign trips.

“These are stringent measures necessary to maximise savings while reducing expenditures,” Sheikh reiterated.

On Friday, the Ministry for Industries and Production (MoIP) secretary said that the government was considering shutting down all utility stores in the country, as part of the “rightsizing of federal government ministries, and institutions working under them.”

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC), although being run inefficiently, provides lifelines to millions of low-income Pakistanis in the form of subsidised groceries. Reports suggesting their closure raised public concern.

A day later, however, Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain dismissed the impression that the utility stores were being closed, insisting that the government was planning to “restructure” the organisation. “The decision has been made to close the USC and the Public Works Department,” he said.

“We are taking SOEs that are not strategic and intend to either privatise them or operate them under a public-private partnership.”

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2024