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Islamabad, March 14, 2013 (PPI-OT): Various Public sector enterprises drain away a significant chunk of government resources and causing huge financial losses to the national exchequer. The only feasible method of turning around these organizations and making them profitable is to privatize them by handing over their management to private sector professionals.
Mr.Zafar Bakhtawari, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has made these remarks in a statement. He said that that the public sector entities including Pakistan Railways, Wapda, PIA, Steel Mill and many other PSEs are incurring a loss of over Rs.600 billion annually, therefore, they should be privatized because privatization reduces economic inefficiencies and fosters competition.
ICCI President said that despite being one of the most important institution, Pakistan Railways was facing the worst loss in history and has suffered losses more than Rs52 billion in the last three years while PIA losses has also increased Rs.150 billion. Thus, Privatization of Public Sector Enterprises (PSE) is essential for making them efficient and profitable, he maintained.
Mr.Bakhtawari was of the view that policy makers should think out of the box to resolve the issues pertaining to public sector organizations as privatization was the best policy prescription to inject efficiency and profitability in the PSE.
He said that Government was spending tax payer’s money on inefficient Public Sector Enterprises PSEs which is about 2 percent of GDP. However, a substantial amount of money should be spent on poor masses by improving education and health infrastructure, he maintained.
Mr.Bakhtawari said that tax revenue collection was Rs.1900billion in the last financial but huge amount of Rs.1200billion was drain away for debt servicing and billions of rupees for covering the loss of these PSEs. ICCI President emphasized that Government should realize that our country could not afford to provide heavy spending for covering the loss of these PSEs. Therefore, Government must take corrective measures to resolve this issue to save the economy, he added.
He said that privatization of these PSEs as well as good corporate governess and effective monitoring systems have to be practiced for smooth running of Public Sector Enterprises.
For more information, contact:
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chamber House, Aiwan-e-Sanat-o-Tijarat Road,
Mauve Area, G-8/1,
Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +9251 225 0526 and 225 3145
Fax: +9251 225 2950
Email: icci@brain.net.pk
Website: www.icci.com.pk