Islamabad: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has shown great concerns over the massive losses of around Rs.1.4 trillion incurred by Pakistan’s state-owned entities (SOEs) over the fiscal years 2021 and 2022 as per the latest consolidated report of the Ministry of Finance, which is twice the size of the Public Sector Development Program.
Ahsan Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry stressed that the government should work on a war footing basis for a comprehensive strategy to save the nation from the unnecessary financial burden of these loss-making SOEs. He said that commercial SOEs should be a source of revenue generation for the government, but instead of contributing to the national exchequer, these SOEs have become a big drain on public finance. He said this while talking to a delegation of the business community at ICCI.
ICCI President said that all the major commercial SOEs of Pakistan are running in losses including PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills, NHA, Pakistan Railways, and DISCOs, which should be a cause of concern for the policymakers. He said that with this huge amount of Rs.1.4 trillion, the government can establish many hospitals, schools, colleges, and universities and spend on public welfare projects. But, unfortunately, the government has to spend this huge amount to bail out the loss-making SOEs and this situation is depriving millions of people of better health and education facilities.
Ahsan Bakhtawari said that PIA alone has reportedly accumulated losses of over Rs.600 billion, growing at an average rate of Rs.150 billion per annum. He said that PIA’s outstanding debt and liabilities have exceeded Rs.350 billion, even after getting several bailout packages from the government. He stressed that the government should privatize all the loss-making SOEs without wasting further time to save the nation from further troubles.
