Cabinet Gives Green Signal to Sell Debt-Ridden PIA

The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved the privatization of debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi told reporters after the cabinet meeting that the cabinet approved the decisions made in the sessions on January 21 and 28, including the privatization of PIA. Solangi, who was accompanied by interim Privati­sation Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad, said the cabinet had also given the green light to employ financial advising services to sell PIA. Fawad emphasized that the sale of the national flag carrier was essential as its overall losses had risen to Rs. 750 billion, or Rs. 12.7 billion every month. He said the PIA fleet consists of 37 aircraft, 15 of which are already grounded, causing the airline to incur a huge loss just to fly 22 planes. He promised that no airline employee would be laid off as a result of the privatization process. Earlier, Fawad said the privatization of PIA aimed at bolstering the country’s aviation industry and highlighted that the government allocated Rs. 2.542 trillion to support loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) between 2018 and 2022. He also highlighted the importance of privatizing loss-making SOEs to enable them to compete effectively in the evolving global economy. By the end of June 2023, the accumulated losses of PIA were recorded at Rs. 713 billion out of which Rs. 263 billion comprised of debt, besides an additional amount of Rs. 13 billion was provided by the banks on government guarantee, he said adding the government also provided Rs. 150 billion from its own resources.