Govt includes key entities for privatisation under new 5-year plan

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has included several important state-owned entities (SOEs) for privatisation under a new five-year plan.

According to details, the federal cabinet recently accorded its approval to a three-phased, five-year privatisation plan.

In the initial phase, the privatization will target Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (Fesco), Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco), and Gujranwala Electric Supply Company (Gesco).

Subsequent phases will see the privatization of Lesco, Mepco, Pesco, Hesco, Sepco, Utility Stores Corporation, State Life Insurance Corporation, and Pakistan re-insurance Company. Additional institutions may be included in the programme following a review.

It is worth mentioning that the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) had approved 24 state-owned enterprises for the Privatisation Programme (2024-29) earlier this month.

After deliberating on the privatisation policy guidelines, the CCOP considered 84 SOEs reflected in the federal footprint SOEs consolidated report FY2020-22 in detail in light of the SOE Act and Policy.

The CCOP recommended that priority should be accorded to reducing the federal footprint in commercial space and limiting it to the strategic and essential SOEs only. CCOP emphasized that even SOEs making profits would also be considered for privatisation.