World News | PIA Privatisation to Be Completed by October 1: Senior Pak Official
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. A senior Pakistani official has informed a parliamentary panel that the privatisation of the national flag carrier would be completed by October 1 after missing an earlier deadline.
Islamabad, Aug 30 (PTI) A senior Pakistani official has informed a parliamentary panel that the privatisation of the national flag carrier would be completed by October 1 after missing an earlier deadline.
The News International reported that Privatisation Commission Secretary Usman Akhtar Bajwa said this on Thursday while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation about the offloading of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
The government agreed in June last year to overhaul loss-making SOEs under a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a USD 3 billion bailout.
The PIA was listed as a priority for privatisation due to its persistent and staggering financial losses, amounting to billions of rupees annually. Hence, the present government initiated the process of floating the PIA for its sell-off.
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During the Senate Standing Committee meeting, Secretary Bajwa assured that the date of PIA's privatisation process would not exceed October 1.
He pointed out that six companies were finalised for the national carrier's bidding.
“Whoever buys the PIA will have to invest Pakistani Rs 425 billion immediately for its smooth functioning,” he said, with the meeting's participants noting that the airline's deficit had reached Pakistani Rs 500 billion.
Earlier, the federal government had granted a two-month extension to the due diligence period for the airline's privatisation process, now set to conclude by October 1 this year.
In April, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the process of privatising PIA would be finalised by the end of June or early July but it could not be done.
The PIA was once the leading airline but deteriorated over time and became unprofitable in 2011. Its poor performance required state subsidies to tackle rising debts and remain in the air.
Previous efforts to overhaul or sell it failed due to political hurdles.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)