Press Release

Revival of PSEs critical for economic survival

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Saturday demanded to the government to revamp all the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) immediately as majority of public entities have failed to deliver the desired results. The Government must lay down a clear plan about restructuring  of State Owned Enterprises  (SOEs).

In a statement issued here, the LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir, Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and Vice President Haris Ateeq said that the government would have to some extraordinary plan to control heavy loss to the national exchequer as Pakistan’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) continued to face accumulated cash bleeding.

They said that the business community is the ultimate loser as the loss making Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) are being run through the duties and taxes imposed on the trade and industrial sectors.

“The outstanding domestic debt of the public sector enterprises stood at Rs 1,785 Billion in December 2021. The losses of State Owned Enterprises result in misallocation of Taxpayers money and reduces the fiscal space for social sector development”, the LCCI office-bearers said and added that various departments and ministries, should have been made redundant in the Federal Government after the 18th Amendment. They are still operating under different names. It is again a waste of TAXPAYERS money.

The LCCI office-bearers said that keeping in view the massive loss being caused by the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), the government should take measures on war footing to make these organizations profitable or go for the option of privatization.

They said that in the advanced economies like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan etc, the role of PSEs is minimal and the private sector is the most important instrument of socio-economic prosperity, and there is continued growth of privately-run corporations.

They said that the significance of PSEs cannot be ignored, in view of the fact that they remain the most employment-intensive and capital-intensive organizations.

The LCCI office-bearers suggested formation of a committee of experts from public and private sectors to revisit strategy and adopt methods which provide a new impetus to the PSEs. They said that the committee should go deep into the broader political philosophy and vision under which the PSEs will be required to play their role in the new competitive environment.

They said that PSEs of Pakistan should continue to remain the backbone of the economy and therefore their revival is critical to our economic survival. They said that PSEs are the only industries that the nation can depend on to check further decline in our growth rate. They said that it is all the more necessary for the government to increase its efforts for revival of the PSEs. Greater autonomy and non interference in their functioning have to be guaranteed so that the country can fully reap full the benefits of PSEs. They said that PSEs are not only industries for short-term economic and commercial gains but are our national assets.