As Pakistan grapples with an escalating financial meltdown, state firms ravaged by poor governance and politics are being hawked off in a bid to preserve dignity. According to Express Tribune, these enterprises operate at a loss, hawking products and services dirt-cheap due to entrenched dysfunction. Governments dodge tough reforms, sustaining loss-makers until massive debts force privatization as the panic button.
The pattern is depressingly uniform. Commercial rigor bows to patronage hires, discipline dissolves, and bailouts delay the inevitable. Privatization turns public losses into private gains, with taxpayers left holding the bag after years of funding failures.
No case screams louder than PIA. Once a regional powerhouse, political intrusions, bloated payrolls, and zero business sense eroded it into irrelevance. Billions in subsidies couldn’t revive it, as quality tanked and rivals thrived. The sell-off was no masterplan—just governance surrender.
Telecom’s PTCL is hailed as proof privatization works: networks upgraded, reach expanded post-sale. Reality bites harder, though. Ex-staff battles rage over pensions and perks, revealing a flawed rush that ignored institutional duties for quick deals.
Power sector privatization via K-Electric promised relief but delivered pain—tariffs at all-time highs despite private ownership. Pakistan’s experiences debunk the fantasy of automatic consumer benefits. True recovery demands overhauling the political stranglehold on SOEs, or privatization will remain a symptom of deeper economic malaise, not its cure.