NFC TO IMPROVE CONFIDENCE BUILDING AMONG FEDERATING UNITS-Senator Waqar

Islamabad, December 26, 2009

An amicable resolution of 19 years old National Finance Commission (NFC) issue is a step towards provincial autonomy, which will further improve confidence building among the federating units. Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan Federal Minister for Privatisation expressed these views in an interview with a local TV channel.

Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan lauded the efforts of the Chief Ministers of all the four provinces, in general and Punjab, in particular for a unanimous decision on NFC.

The Minister said that growth rate was improving while interest rate has descended from 16 to 12 % and the inflation has also came down from 24 % to 10 %. The government was determined to make more efforts for political stability and to extend relief to the common man, he said.

Referring to a question, the Minister said that national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has management issue, which would be resolved through capacity building to improve the performance of our airline, which has most lucrative routes and landing licenses around the world. We were in the process to make Pakistan politically and economically very strong as we have no room for mistakes, he added.

While refuting an impression, the Minister said that the strategic investors have not shyed away, which would be proved soon through unprecedented investment and privatisation in the coming days.

He further stated that we were taking all stakeholders on board and we were in touch with the foreign missions, local business groups, multinationals, chambers, industrialists and the provincial governments for the most transparent privatisation process by providing equal opportunities to the local and foreign investors.