Pakistan’s economic crisis continues unabated, but the government is still not implementing reforms that would improve the situation. One way to improve Pakistan’s economic situation would be to privatize loss-making SOEs (state-owned enterprises). However, after promising both foreign and domestic investors that privatization would take place soon, that process appears to be delayed once again.
According to Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan PIA’s losses stand at $3 billion. “Once the pride and glory of Pakistan, the airline has been hemorrhaging so much money lately that it boggles the senses just trying to put its losses in perspective. Recent estimates suggest the national flag carrier has been bleeding about Rs 13bn every month.”
As an editorial in Dawn noted, “for every second its privatization is delayed, PIA loses enough money to feed the average Pakistani household for an entire week, and the loss incurred for every minute the airline functions could be used to cover the monthly stipend for 30 families under the Benazir Income Support Programme.”
