EDITORIAL (February 15 2010): It is good to know that some concrete measures would be taken soon to improve the health of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) in order to reduce burden on the budget. According to the latest reports, the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring (CCoR) has finalised a roadmap for the turnaround of eight loss-making public sector entities, focusing in particular on replacing their managements with professionals from the private sector.
Talking to a newspaper, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin revealed that the Committee would replace the existing managements of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) with others within two weeks after approval of the plan by the Prime Minister. New and vibrant boards were also needed for corporate restructuring of Pakistan Railways, Pepco, NHA, USC, TCP and Passco.
These eight entities were incurring annual losses of about Rs 200 billion and Ministry of Finance had always been advocating for structural changes in the management of these PSEs to make them profitable. Tarin deplored that weak governance, susceptibility to outside influence and implicit guarantees by the government were the major reasons behind these entities’ under-performance.
Continue reading
Development Industry 