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Privatisation is a cornerstone of the remarkably successful economic
reforms of the Government, which were introduced in 1999 and which have made a
major contribution towards the excellent economic performance during the last
several years. Mr. Zahid Hamid Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment
stated this while chairing a meeting of the Privatisation Commission Board
here today.
The Minister said that as a result of these reforms, which also included
liberalization and deregulation accompanied by transparency, good governance
and consistency and continuity of the policies, overall investment had
increased 20 % of GDP while foreign direct investment (FDI) had crossed $ 3.5
billion during 2005-06, which was a record and 57 entities had been privatised
from 1999 to 2006 and huge amount of Rs.316 billion realized, which was
utilized for debt reduction and poverty alleviation, he added.
The Minister pointed out that the President of Pakistan General Pervez
Musharraf in his interview with a private television channel telecast
yesterday had also highlighted the importance and benefits of privatisation
and had appreciated the performance of the Privatisation Commission, which was
a source of great pride for its officers and staff.
The PC Board reviewed the privatisation status of transactions relating to Pak
American Fertilizers Limited, National Investment Trust Limited (NITL),
Lyallpur Chemical & Fertilizers Limited and land of Services International
Hotel, Lahore. The forthcoming Global Depository Receipts (GDR) and
simultaneous domestic offering of Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL)
was also discussed.
The Board also reviewed the progress in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of
State Life Insurance Company shares and Secondary Public Offering of United
Bank Limited (UBL) through capital market under the program, “Privatisation
for the People’, which has benefited a very large number of small investors in
the past.
The PC Board members and the senior officials of the respective ministries and
departments were present during the meeting.