The Justice Movement Party government of Pakistan is considering the privatization of 10 public entities including Zarai Taraqiati Bank Co., Ltd. and two natural gas utility companies.

It is reported that the list initially consisted of 11 state-owned enterprises, but the cabinet committee of state-owned enterprises cancelled the idea of privatizing Pakistani TV stations, so the number of privatized companies was finally determined to be 10.

Among them, Zarai Taraqiati Bank is the third professional bank chosen by the PTI government after the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Bank and the First Women's Bank. This bank is also the only professional bank that provides loans to the agricultural sector.

Pakistan government plans to promote corporate privatization

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan plans to vigorously promote the corporate privatization agenda in the third year of his administration, because the ministries and commissions have neither controlled the losses of these public enterprises nor reorganized the enterprises.

According to Pakistani officials, the Pakistani prime minister hopes to prevent losses in the power sector at all costs, even if the government needs to outsource it to the private sector.

In the past year, the government's plan to privatize ZTBL is obvious. The government has appointed a professional organization whose members are well versed in the restructuring and privatization of loss-making banks.

It is reported that ZTBL management is reducing staff through attrition. A senior ZTBL official said that so far, apart from contract recruitment for 50 senior positions, no recruitment has been made for 1,700 positions vacant due to retirement or resignation.

According to insiders, the bank had suffered huge losses before, but by the end of December 2020, this amount had been drastically reduced to around Rs 4 billion.

Other entities proposing privatization include Sui Nan Gas Co., Ltd., Sui North Gas Pipeline Co., Ltd., Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, Pakistan Expo Center Pte Ltd, Pakistan Environmental Planning and Construction Consulting Pte Ltd, Overseas Employment Pte Ltd, National Investment Trust Fund Corporation and Pakistan National Engineering Services Co., Ltd.

In the first two years of the establishment of the PTI government, the losses suffered by all state-owned enterprises increased by two-thirds, and they performed poorly in the history of the ruling party.

In October 2018, the PTI government decided to reduce the privatization list from 65 to 11, including almost all profitable entities. Later, when Sheikh served as a financial advisor, the list was expanded to 19 entities.

But so far, in the past two and a half years, no loss-making company has successfully privatized. Therefore, the PTI government has removed Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Steel Plant from the list, and then again included its Pakistan Steel Plant in June 2019.

In December 2020, the Federal Cabinet approved the PSM transaction structure. It is reported that in January 2021, the PSM board of directors also approved the establishment of a new subsidiary to sell a majority stake through the subsidiary. Editor/Sang Xiaomei