On Thursday, 7 August 2025, Dr Khaqan Hassan Najeeb, Former Advisors in Ministry of Finance, delivered a lecture on “State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) & the Privatization Process in Pakistan” to participants of the 38^th Senior Management Course at the National Institute of Public Administration, Lahore.

Dr Najeeb began by warning that a “crushing decade of accumulated losses” has cost the public purse US $21 billion and left 94 commercial SOEs and 69 subsidiaries shouldering ever-larger quasi-fiscal burdens. Annual losses climbed from Rs 705 billion in FY 2022 to Rs 905 billion in FY 2023, while power-sector shortfalls alone exceed Rs 2.5 trillion.

He traced these deficits to an outsized state footprint, repeated IMF programmes, 24 engagements to date and a growth model hobbled by debt, price distortions and weak human-resource capacity. It remained an interactive session where on privatization, he outlined a three-phase 2024-29 programme: transaction readiness in the first year, concessions within three, and majority divestments by year five. The first distribution-company (DISCO) request for proposal is due by May 2025, with full privatization offers by September 2025. Success, he stressed, will be judged by shareholder value, customer satisfaction and reduced fiscal drag.

Setting out a reform blueprint, Dr Najeeb highlighted the 2023 SOE Act, which together with IMF-backed commitments aims to shrink the public-sector role, close governance gaps and align all statutory enterprises with a unified oversight framework by June 2025. A new Central Monitoring Unit in the Ministry of Finance will digitise reporting and benchmark performance against OECD standards. Dr Najeeb concluded that disciplined execution of the SOE Act, robust governance and phased asset sales are essential to restore macro-stability, spur competition and unlock long-term growth.