Govt strikes PTV off privatisation list

Cabinet body decides to delist Pakistan Television at request of information ministry

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Wednesday approved the removal of Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) from its already thin list of entities that it wanted to sell to stem losses but had so far failed to control the haemorrhaging.

Headed by Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) “decided to delist Pakistan Television Corporation from the list of state-owned enterprises categorised for privatisation,” said the Ministry of Finance.

The decision was taken on the request of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, it added.

PTV has remained at the centre of a drama going on in the Ministry of Information over the past two and a half years. In a bid to take control of the state-run television, a federal minister had been shown the door in the past.

This month, first the managing director was removed and then reinstated. Last week, the PTV board chairman was also shown the door by the federal cabinet.

The information secretary briefed the forum that PTV was undergoing massive restructuring to make it a financially viable, professionally efficient and technically sound state-owned enterprise (SOE) in order to amplify the national narrative and formulate favourable public opinion, said the finance ministry in a statement.

There had been 66% increase in the debt of public sector enterprises (PSEs) within first two years of the PTI government.

PSEs’ total debt, which stood at Rs1.39 trillion in June 2018, grew to Rs2.3 trillion by June last year, according to the central bank. There was an increase of Rs922 billion or 66.2% in the PSEs’ debt.

PSEs’ external debt jumped Rs500 billion or 154% to Rs824 billion in two years. Their domestic debt amounted to Rs1.5 trillion with an addition of 40% in two years, according to the SBP. PTI’s active privatisation list comprises only one-and-a-half-dozen entities and the only notable units - two LNG-fired power plants - are facing delay of over one and a half year. The Ministry of Finance also presented a report on the Triage of SOEs to the cabinet committee, said the ministry.

The committee, after detailed discussion, gave directive for streamlining the existing categories for the privatisation of SOEs and for presenting a roadmap to the committee, it added.

The cabinet committee also directed the ministers concerned to utilise the interim period effectively and work out options for restructuring including the possibility of management contracts, where applicable, and update the committee periodically.

The committee decided that a forensic audit of major loss-making SOEs would be conducted in accordance with directives of the prime minister. The finance secretary briefed the committee that the Auditor General’s Office was on board and it had started collecting data whereas several private sector firms had also shown interest in that regard.

The committee decided that, keeping in view the large number of entities, the forensic audit task may be distributed among the private sector firms and the Auditor General of Pakistan as per rules. The finance secretary updated the committee on the progress made on the draft SOE Bill 2020. After following due consultative on the draft, the Finance Division had submitted it to the Law and Justice Division, said the finance ministry. Once the draft bill was cleared, it would be presented to the cabinet for approval, before bringing it to parliament, it added.

The government has proposed that SOEs should be absolved of the obligation of public service delivery aimed at making them financially viable but has kept the door open for influencing their decisions, according to the draft SOE bill of September 2020.

The bill has sought immunity from all kinds of criminal and civil proceedings. In the initially approved draft, loss-making Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Post Office had been excluded from the scope of proposed law.

Under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme, which has remained stalled since February last year, Pakistan was required to submit to parliament by September 30, 2020 a new SOE bill to improve governance and transparency in these enterprises.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2021.

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