Pakistan

Govt to privatise all its commercial entities

New policy envisages future recruitment on contract basis

Irshad Ansari December 01, 2023

Assuming 10% growth in total private sector loans by Dec 2021, the banking sector is expected to allocate an additional Rs23 billion for the housing and construction segment. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD:

In a major policy decision, the caretaker government decided on Thursday to make all the new appointments in the government institutions on contract basis, while all the commercial government institutions would be privatised gradually.

The finance ministry issued a notification titled ‘Ownership and Management Policy of Government Institutions 2023, which would apply to all government-owned enterprises (GOEs). It said that a cabinet committee would be established to implement the new policy.

According to the new policy, the government would retain the control of “sensitive institutions of strategic nature” while the commercial enterprises would be privatised. However, it added some institutions would be restructured and their future would be decided soon.

The policy, which would be updated and issued once in every five years, envisaged that financially or operationally failing entities would be declared a sick company and a plan for their rehabilitation and reorganisation would be prepared.

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It has been decided that in future new recruitments in government institutions would be made on contract basis. However, Strict criteria would be applied for hiring of senior management officials, including chief financial executive officers (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs) and secretaries.

Similarly, according to the notification, the decision to retain or terminate the job of officials would be taken on the basis of the performance of those officers. In case of dismissal over unsatisfactory performance, the policy said that one month's notice would be given.

According to the document, categories of GOEs will be prepared within six months of the policy implementation. All GOEs would develop an effective internal audit procedure; and their performance would be monitored by a central monitoring unit.

The proposed unit would analyse business plan for the government agencies and make recommendations. According to the policy, a database of the independent board of directors of these institutions would also be prepared.