Govt not intending to privatise PIA, OGDCL, power distribution companies

ISLAMABAD - Minister for Finance Asad Umar has clarified that the government was not intending to privatise state-owned enterprises, including PIA , OGDCL and power distribution companies.

Talking to a private news channel on Sunday, the minister said that the government was exploring all other opportunities to strengthen the national economy.

He said that the situation of uncertainty in national economy would be cleared by mid of October as the economic reforms were on the top of the government’s priorities.

He said the government also wanted to enhance exports, promote investments and industrial development in the country for producing exportable surplus and fetching the foreign exchange reserves.

He said the forex reserves were under pressures as every month about US$ 2 billion were spent to meet different financial needs of the country.

Asad termed the meeting with Saudi officials very productive and said it was premature to forecast the actual volume of investment coming from the Saudi Arabia.

He said the government had inherited a budget deficit of Rs 2,300 billion from the previous government that was build due to the ill policies, which destroyed the economy and pushed it to the debt trap.

He said the incumbent government would control its expenditures by adopting austerity and would never spent national money on luxury life style.

The minister said the national institutions would be developed by bringing the experienced and professionals to turn them into a profitable entity for the nation.

The middle income people would be provided health and education cards to bring them into the social safety nets and provide them matching facilities.