Privatisation or predation?
King Richard (aka the Lionheart) once declared, “I would have sold London if I could find a buyer”. London was spared; instead bishoprics were sold, gold and silver treasures of…
Prices on the rise as LPG supplies at risk
The Supreme Court order of December 4, 2013, has put at risk continuity of LPG supplies from the JJVL plant, which accounts for about 20 percent of local LPG production.…
Privatising SOEs
The Board of the Privatisation Commission (PC) has taken important decisions regarding partial sell-off of state holdings in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Oil & Gas Development Co Ltd (OGDCL), Pakistan…
Privatisation of strategic assets: guidelines
The government has said time and again that it is resorting to privatisation in order to reduce the burden on the national exchequer as these state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are running…
Flawed energy policy
It is an accepted fact now that the National Energy Policy 2013-2018 is merely a policy statement. Or, at best, it is the policy strategy, as declared in the document…
Memo from the US…Wasting a crisis
The Nawaz government had a rare opportunity to fix the financial crisis bedevilling state-owned entities (SOEs). Did he not promise to appoint people of merit to head these SOEs? With…
Public sector revamp
To its credit, the government has moved relatively fast on two important fronts: one, putting in place a credible, long-term plan for the resolution of the energy crisis; and two,…
Professionals wanted
Anyone scouring the newspapers in search of job opportunities is bound to have noticed the rather colourful advertisements placed by the government in recent weeks. They seek applications from `dynamic…
At a precipice
Pakistan stands devastated today due to unprecedented massive corruption. According to a recent report by Transparency International Pakistan the last five years have been the worst in the history of…
Institutional pillage
`Fiscal Neanderthals`. This is how a friend used to describe the finance and FBR bureaucracy and their parliamentary `handlers` after each bout of resistance to tax reform and the introduction…
