Finance minister seeks SOEs categorization by May 20

ISLAMABAD, May 13 (APP): Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb here on Monday directed all concerned ministries and divisions to submit proposals for the categorization of their respective State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) by May 20. The categorization is a part of a comprehensive review of the rationale for retaining commercial functions within the public sector, according to press release issued by finance ministry.

The objective is to retain only the essential functions within the public sector and to assign the remaining functions to the private sector. At the same time the entities which remain in public sector have to be more competitive, accountable, and responsive to the needs of citizens. The minister was presiding over a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs), which among others was attended by Minister for Maritime Affairs, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh; Minister for Economic Affairs, Ahad Khan Cheema; Minister for Housing & Works, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada; Governor SBP, Chairman SECP, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers of the relevant ministries.

According to press release, the primary agenda of the meeting was to conduct a review of implementation of the State-Owned Enterprises Policy 2023 and the periodic evaluation of financial and operational performance across SOEs. The Central Monitoring Unit of Finance Division presented its on-going work on the compilation of the Federal SOE Annual Financial Report for fiscal year 2023. The DG CMU informed the meeting that the data of all commercial entities has been obtained & collated, while the analytical work was currently underway.

The Committee was briefed on the highlights of the performance of SOEs during the reporting period.
The minister noted that there were a number of gaps in governance and financial management of companies which needed to be addressed immediately and directed that the vacancies on the BOD’s should be filled without delay. He also directed that the companies who had not had their accounts independently audited, should ensure that the audits are completed forthwith. He emphasised that continued losses & fiscal haemorrhage had to be stopped as a national priority. Therefore SOEs restructuring and privatisation agenda needed to be expedited in order to improve the efficiency of these entities.

The Committee directed the CMU to finalize & publish the report at the earliest after including the requisite analytical portions prescribed under the SOE Policy. The meeting concluded with a commitment to fostering transparency, efficiency, and sustainable growth within the State-Owned Enterprises, reflecting the government’s dedication to ensuring the optimal utilization of public resources, the press release added.