Cabinet body mulls govt rightsizing

A committee constituted by the cabinet has considered a series of options including the closure of five ministries to achieve the objective of rightsizing the federal government and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

These ministries include the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, States and Frontier Region Division (SAFRON), Ministry of Industries and Production and Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.

The cabinet body is considering different courses of action such as retention, closure, retention with modification or transfer to provinces.

Sources told The Express Tribune that a presentation was made in a recent meeting of the cabinet on rightsizing the federal government.

The cabinet was informed that a committee had been constituted to propose the architecture for functions of the federal government which could be undertaken in the private mode, ascertain the functions requiring public finances in the private mode and analyse whether the remaining functions had the appropriate and economical architecture corresponding to them.

The committee was tasked to determine the functions which were entirely provincial in nature with no international collaboration, but without affecting common market principles.

It was required to recommend a concrete plan with a clear way forward and methodology, along with assessment to safeguard assets, human resources and other ancillary issues, and address other matters relevant to its scope of work.

Three meetings of the committee had been held since June 21, 2024 and after detailed deliberations, the parameters for rightsizing were worked out.

Critical information was sought from all ministries and their organisations pertaining to the organisational structure, status of employees, budget, functions performed – whether provincial or federal, and justification for each function as regulatory, market coordination, policy level, developmental, research and innovation, legal obligation or international obligation.

It also considered whether such functions should be halted, retained, transferred, devolved or privatised, and how the retained functions could be reformed, improved and economised.

Based on such information, the committee was considering different courses of action for varying entities regarding retention, closure, retention with modification or transfer to provinces.

The cabinet was told that five ministries had been selected in the first phase for rightsizing and a timeline was also presented in that regard.

The first report containing different decisions will be presented on August 2, 2024 and the second report comprising the implementation plans will be submitted on August 12.

Moreover, information has been sought from the remaining ministries and work will begin on the next batch of ministries by August 1, 2024.

The cabinet was also given a presentation on the performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

It was pointed out that the Cabinet Committee on State-owned Enterprises had held several meetings to consider proposals of the administrative divisions relating to the retention of their SOEs by declaring them as “strategic” or “essential.” Based on the progress made so far, following details were placed before the cabinet:

The total number of SOEs identified by the Finance Division was 84, of which 55 enterprises were taken up for consideration by the Cabinet Committee on SOEs.

The total number of SOEs categorised as essential stands at 13 while five were categorised as strategic. Some 15 SOEs were planned to be privatised whereas 22 SOEs were in the pipeline for consideration by the Cabinet Committee on SOEs with directives.

The cabinet was further apprised that a comprehensive programme was being prepared and the SOEs, duly examined by the cabinet committee, were in the pipeline.

Four ministries including finance, IT and telecommunication, revenue, and communication had not yet submitted their cases to the committee. The cabinet directed its secretary to present detailed information on the categorisation of SOEs in the next meeting.