Featured Official: Pakistan spends more on defunct state enterprises than it does on defense annually

[Falcon26]

People like to complain about how the government spends billions a year on defense, but hardly anyone talks about how much billions are wasted each year on defunct state owned enterprises. For example, the Pakistan Steel Mills retains 9k employees even though it has stopped operations in 2015. All these employees receive monthly salary from the government.

The same is happening with PIA and Pakistan Railways. Overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s state owned enterprises are in financial ruins.

Yet, rather than resolve this massive bottleneck which is plunging the country into deeper crisis, people often bark at convenient and politically charged issues such as the military budget, which is smaller than what Pakistan spends on these defunct enterprises.

Imagine how different Pakistan would be if it spend the >10-billion USD annually on education, healthcare, research and transportation for the past 5-years? Yet, these massive amounts were spent on nonfunctioning government enterprises.

Pakistan doesn’t have economic challenges, it has management problems.

He said that losses of state-owned enterprises had exceeded Rs2,000bn which was more than the country's annual defence budget. "If we want to take the economy forward, we will have to take these decisions. I believe this was the right decision on which implementation has started."

Hammad, Bilawal in war of words over sacking of 4,500 PSM employees

PPP chairman says "sack Imran not workers,"; industries minister blames PPP govt for destroying Pakistan Steel Mills.

www.dawn.com

The state needs to get out of the business of running airline companies, steel Mills, trains etc. These are things the private sector can do in a much efficient and productive manner.

@Bilal Khan (Quwa) @Trailer23 @JamD

 

[Enigma SIG]

You'd think anyone with half a brain could come up to the same conclusion. But here we are in Pakistan where Bhutto is still alive and people revere politicians who came out of a specific ball sack.

 

[Falcon26]

You'd think anyone with half a brain could come up to the same conclusion. But here we are in Pakistan where Bhutto is still alive and people revere politicians who came out of a specific ball sack.

It’s just unfathomable. If this was happening in any normal country, there will be tribunals, and peoples heads will be on the chopping blocks. It’s criminal to think that Pakistan has wasted almost $50-billion during the past 5-years on these defunct state owned enterprises such as Pakistan Steel Mills. This is almost the size of CPEC! But the same proponents of these unsustainable and utterly ruinous policies (Read PPP) complain about how CPEC is a debt trap.

Nothing makes sense lol

 

[Enigma SIG]

It’s just unfathomable. If this was happening in any normal country, there will be tribunals, and peoples heads will be on the chopping blocks. It’s criminal to think that Pakistan has wasted almost $50-billion during the past 5-years on these defunct state owned enterprises such as Pakistan Steel Mills. This is almost the size of CPEC! But the same proponents of these unsustainable and utterly ruinous policies (Read PPP) complain about how CPEC is a debt trap.

Nothing makes sense lol

All this because of stupid economic policies. We all saw how Faisalabad was replaced by Bangladesh during the last PPP-PMLN tenures. Current Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was working under PPP government too. Why didn't he have success? Because the government at the top was busy selling Pakistan in slices. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has done stellar work uptil now under the PTI government.
Highlights of the key achievements by PTI-led Government. | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

• Loans repaid by PTI govt in 22 months: RS 5000 Billion
• Amount borrowed from State Bank in 22 months: NIL
• Panagahs established by PTI govt in 22 months: 200+
• Rs 2 Billion allocated to transform PM house into a university.
• Effective diplomacy saved Pakistan from paying $1.2bn penalty in Karkey case
• Kartarpur corridor constructed and made operational within months.
• Modi exposed across the globe, Kashmir issues raised at international forums, India isolated.
• 10 billion tree Tsunami project praised across the globe and being replicated by other developed counties.
• Sehat Sahoolat card being provided to every family in KPK. Providing Insurance coverage worth 1 million per family annually.
• Rs 150 Billion+ distributed among the needy through the Ehsas Emergency Cash program.
• Funding provided for a number of DAM projects. Work on most has commenced and would be completed after PTI's tenure finishes. Because a leader thinks of the next generation. Not the next election.
• Government paying utility bills for small business in an attempt to shoulder some of their expenses in times of Covid19.
• Current account deficit reduced to $3 Billion from $20 Billion within 22 months.
• State Bank's reserves have increased from $9.7 Billion to $12.3 Billion in 22 months.
• 1.2 million families of Azad Kashmir to get Sehat Sahulat card with insurance coverage of Rs 1 million per family annually.
• Tax collection was increasing at a rate of 17% before Covid19 arrived. Hundreds of thousands of new filers had registered with the FBR.
• 7 million families will receive Sehat Sahulat Card in Punjab during the current year. 4.6 million families have already received it. All these families would have insurance coverage of Rs 1 million annually.
• After Covid19 arrived, Imran Khan was the first leader who raised voice for debt relief. He was mocked. People discussed his tracksuit for days. A few weeks later, Pakistan ended up securing $2.4 billion debt relief.
• "In Pakistan, the outlook has improved markedly since the 2018 general election victory of Imran Khan. In a short period, the country has seen notable improvements in business sentiment & macroeconomic policy-making." -Financial Times
• Covid19: Cases per million around the world: 1,275 Cases per million in Pakistan: 901 Deaths per million around the world: 68.3 Deaths per million in Pakistan: 18
• Discussed Kashmir's issue every time he met President Donald Trump leading to the US president repeatedly offering to act as a mediator between India & Pakistan in an attempt to solve the Kashmir crisis. Previous PM wouldn't even mention Kashmir.
• Thousands of poor Pakistanis locked up in prisons abroad were brought back to Pakistan thanks to PM Imran Khan's impressive diplomacy. GhareeboN ka Wazir e Azam.
• Pakistan secured Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $2.1 Billion in the first 9 months of the financial year 2019-2020. Highest in the last 11 years.
• In 22 months, the PTI government has constructed and revamped 1824 kms of roads across Pakistan. Which is 600 km more than PMLN did in their last 2 years.
• PM Imran Khan reduced PM office staff to 298 from 552. Reduced the operating cost of the PM office to 339 million from 509 million. (33% reduction) No camp offices. Bears expenses of his house himself. Unprecedented Austerity.
• Ease of doing Business: Pakistan was ranked 147th in the world in 2018. Pakistan has jumped 39 places to 108 under Imran Khan's leadership in less than two years.
• In 22 months, PM Imran Khan's government has brought the Trade Deficit down to $21 billion from $37 billion.

 

[Falcon26]

All this because of stupid economic policies. We all saw how Faisalabad was replaced by Bangladesh during the last PPP-PMLN tenures. Current Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was working under PPP government too. Why didn't he have success? Because the government at the top was busy selling Pakistan in slices. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh has done stellar work uptil now under the PTI government.
Highlights of the key achievements by PTI-led Government. | Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

• Loans repaid by PTI govt in 22 months: RS 5000 Billion
• Amount borrowed from State Bank in 22 months: NIL
• Panagahs established by PTI govt in 22 months: 200+
• Rs 2 Billion allocated to transform PM house into a university.
• Effective diplomacy saved Pakistan from paying $1.2bn penalty in Karkey case
• Kartarpur corridor constructed and made operational within months.
• Modi exposed across the globe, Kashmir issues raised at international forums, India isolated.
• 10 billion tree Tsunami project praised across the globe and being replicated by other developed counties.
• Sehat Sahoolat card being provided to every family in KPK. Providing Insurance coverage worth 1 million per family annually.
• Rs 150 Billion+ distributed among the needy through the Ehsas Emergency Cash program.
• Funding provided for a number of DAM projects. Work on most has commenced and would be completed after PTI's tenure finishes. Because a leader thinks of the next generation. Not the next election.
• Government paying utility bills for small business in an attempt to shoulder some of their expenses in times of Covid19.
• Current account deficit reduced to $3 Billion from $20 Billion within 22 months.
• State Bank's reserves have increased from $9.7 Billion to $12.3 Billion in 22 months.
• 1.2 million families of Azad Kashmir to get Sehat Sahulat card with insurance coverage of Rs 1 million per family annually.
• Tax collection was increasing at a rate of 17% before Covid19 arrived. Hundreds of thousands of new filers had registered with the FBR.
• 7 million families will receive Sehat Sahulat Card in Punjab during the current year. 4.6 million families have already received it. All these families would have insurance coverage of Rs 1 million annually.
• After Covid19 arrived, Imran Khan was the first leader who raised voice for debt relief. He was mocked. People discussed his tracksuit for days. A few weeks later, Pakistan ended up securing $2.4 billion debt relief.
• "In Pakistan, the outlook has improved markedly since the 2018 general election victory of Imran Khan. In a short period, the country has seen notable improvements in business sentiment & macroeconomic policy-making." -Financial Times
• Covid19: Cases per million around the world: 1,275 Cases per million in Pakistan: 901 Deaths per million around the world: 68.3 Deaths per million in Pakistan: 18
• Discussed Kashmir's issue every time he met President Donald Trump leading to the US president repeatedly offering to act as a mediator between India & Pakistan in an attempt to solve the Kashmir crisis. Previous PM wouldn't even mention Kashmir.
• Thousands of poor Pakistanis locked up in prisons abroad were brought back to Pakistan thanks to PM Imran Khan's impressive diplomacy. GhareeboN ka Wazir e Azam.
• Pakistan secured Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $2.1 Billion in the first 9 months of the financial year 2019-2020. Highest in the last 11 years.
• In 22 months, the PTI government has constructed and revamped 1824 kms of roads across Pakistan. Which is 600 km more than PMLN did in their last 2 years.
• PM Imran Khan reduced PM office staff to 298 from 552. Reduced the operating cost of the PM office to 339 million from 509 million. (33% reduction) No camp offices. Bears expenses of his house himself. Unprecedented Austerity.
• Ease of doing Business: Pakistan was ranked 147th in the world in 2018. Pakistan has jumped 39 places to 108 under Imran Khan's leadership in less than two years.
• In 22 months, PM Imran Khan's government has brought the Trade Deficit down to $21 billion from $37 billion.

The PTI are loudmouths but their economic policies are slowly but surely bearing fruits.

If PTI can extricate the state from these disastrous state owned enterprises and hand them over to the private sectors, improve the tax base and invest seriously and deliberately in science and technology and research, Pakistan will be a in very different place in 5-10 years.

Pakistan, as a nation, needs to realize that the old way of doing business and running the country are no longer sustainable.

 

[Enigma SIG]

The PTI are loudmouths but their economic policies are slowly but surely bearing fruits.

If PTI can extricate the state from these disastrous state owned enterprises and hand them over to the private sectors, improve the tax base and invest seriously and deliberately in science and technology and research, Pakistan will be a in very different place in 5-10 years.

Pakistan, as a nation, needs to realize that the old way of doing business and running the country are no longer sustainable.

Any change that can be brought about will bear fruits in around 5 years short term and 20 years long term. You have to educate a full generation on civic responsibility and allegiance to the state rather than some waste of sperm. We are heading in the right direction though slowly but surely.

 

[Black.Mamba]

If PTI can extricate the state from these disastrous state owned enterprises and hand them over to the private sectors, improve the tax base and invest seriously and deliberately in science and technology and research, Pakistan will be a in very different place in 5-10 years.

And applied sciences education; This whole notion of getting some irrelavent 4-year degree is the right way to success is a very old concept now. In todays world only "skills" matter, Government should use its control either through HEC or other means to make sure all private/public universities/collages/institutions are imparting skill-based education. The culture of enterprenurship should be heavily supported not by just verbal means rather practical steps.

 

[Patriot786b2]

It's in our long term interests to keep steel technology and PIA.
In light of manufacturing Jf-17s in bulk in face of threats.

 

[FuturePAF]

And applied sciences education; This whole notion of getting some irrelavent 4-year degree is the right way to success is a very old concept now. In todays world only "skills" matter, Government should use its control either through HEC or other means to make sure all private/public universities/collages/institutions are imparting skill-based education. The culture of enterprenurship should be heavily supported not by just verbal means rather practical steps.

The German model of putting students on one of two education tracks would the most efficient use of state funds. we should learning slot of how to do business from the Germans, especially their mittlestand model. Small and medium business with annual growth of 11%, these companies make up the vast majority of the German economy.

Many people make the recommendation that Pakistan should follow the Indian university model, considering their IIT alumni have gone on to lead many tech companies in Silicon Valley. But here too the Germans have a thing or two to teach them, and we should leap frog the Indian model and implement something similar to the German model.

 

[Falcon26]

It's in our long term interests to keep steel technology and PIA.
In light of manufacturing Jf-17s in bulk in face of threats.

Absolute nonsense. Just absolute nonsense.

Why should the government run steels mills or airlines when the private sector can do the same better and efficiently ? Especially, when the government steel mill and PIA have been suffering billions of usd in losses each year?

The accepted definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Think critical instead of knee jerk reaction comments.

Thanks

The German model of putting students on one of two education tracks would the most efficient use of state funds. we should learning slot of how to do business from the Germans, especially their mittlestand model. Small and medium business with annual growth of 11%, these companies make up the vast majority of the German economy.

Many people make the recommendation that Pakistan should follow the Indian university model, considering their IIT alumni have gone on to lead many tech companies in Silicon Valley. But here too the Germans have a thing or two to teach them, and we should leap frog the Indian model and implement something similar to the German model.

Indeed.

Pakistan needs to follow the German model which is a proven track to development and creating highly competent and skilled workforce.

There’s a need for the government to partner more aggressively with the private sector and creating such outcomes instead of the state simply running steel Mills and airlines and financially ruining the country.

 

[Black.Mamba]

The German model of putting students on one of two education tracks would the most efficient use of state funds. we should learning slot of how to do business from the Germans, especially their mittlestand model. Small and medium business with annual growth of 11%, these companies make up the vast majority of the German economy.

Many people make the recommendation that Pakistan should follow the Indian university model, considering their IIT alumni have gone on to lead many tech companies in Silicon Valley. But here too the Germans have a thing or two to teach them, and we should leap frog the Indian model and implement something similar to the German model.

I totally agree with you and since I have first-hand experience of the German education system along with the mittlestand model and while being a Pakistani I have always been comparing things, ponder and make critical observations. Knowing after the war how Pakistan financially helped Germany, and now we are no way near them in any sense. I also had the privilege to talk with some senior citizens, the generation that actually built Germany, the things they told me I can only dream that we as Pakistani could ever live and think with that mindset.

For the German education the dual track video you posted is actually just 1 type of system, in reality it is a 3 track system and it will be very complicated to explain and unnessesary for this discussion. However just for the perspective, students while being in school based on their aptitude/grades/some other factors are put into the respective stream. For example you do not have the mindset/aptitude of being a doctor during the school years, you will be fizzled out of that path and you will not be able to choose medicine once you graduate high-school (brilliant use of resources) however you know how things are in Pakistan, influential people can move things and get you seats, in Germany if you have been put out of a stream no one can put you in , without being sexiest we all know why most of the medicine seats are occupied by female however most of them never join the labour market (mindset and culture).

For Pakistan, the problem is multi-faceted. From our basic education even to the ethics of our populace and many other factors. Even the religion(fake mullah religion) has made a great dent in our society, our mindsets, etc. Most of the world has a perception that Germans are hardworking which is absolutely false, politely saying they are extremely lazy however how it translates into success is because here we have a say and it goes like "do the thing right the first time so that you do not have to do it again" and everyone lives by this mindset.

I have been a strong advocate that if Pakistan really wants to sling-shot itself, we should follow the same mindset but in-order to achieve it we need to implement the same mindset first across the board, "do it right the first time", however many brilliant minds in Pakistan advocate the evolutionary approach that with time things will improve, in theory, yes they will but it will be a very slow process and can easily be sidetracked as well. Even if you look at the present political situation, any sane mind can see how the nation was looted for the last 40 years but the very same political parties come out on TV, streets and pretend they did nothing, and they still have their support base as well (either uneducated, plain dumb, or vested interests).

It can be a very long discussion but in my opinion, if we really want to fix our country it can be done only if we fix our legal system and bring in a bulletproof accountability system, rest of the things will take their appropriate shape within due course. As long as we will be shifting among dilemmas we will reach nowhere.

 

[KaiserX]

Privatize them all. Only solution. I remember back in 2006, a country decided to buy PSM at a reasonable price instead the Chief justice screwed the deal... imagine in 15 years that cost the govt of Pakistan easily 20bn USD and prob just the same amount in lost revenue from not doing the deal....

We would have been much better off using the funds to build 1000+ JF-17s

Atleast that would have generated 30k+ professional/technical jobs directly and indirectly.

 

[Falcon26]

I totally agree with you and since I have first-hand experience of the German education system along with the mittlestand model and while being a Pakistani I have always been comparing things, ponder and make critical observations. Knowing after the war how Pakistan financially helped Germany, and now we are no way near them in any sense. I also had the privilege to talk with some senior citizens, the generation that actually built Germany, the things they told me I can only dream that we as Pakistani could ever live and think with that mindset.

For the German education the dual track video you posted is actually just 1 type of system, in reality it is a 3 track system and it will be very complicated to explain and unnessesary for this discussion. However just for the perspective, students while being in school based on their aptitude/grades/some other factors are put into the respective stream. For example you do not have the mindset/aptitude of being a doctor during the school years, you will be fizzled out of that path and you will not be able to choose medicine once you graduate high-school (brilliant use of resources) however you know how things are in Pakistan, influential people can move things and get you seats, in Germany if you have been put out of a stream no one can put you in , without being sexiest we all know why most of the medicine seats are occupied by female however most of them never join the labour market (mindset and culture).

For Pakistan, the problem is multi-faceted. From our basic education even to the ethics of our populace and many other factors. Even the religion(fake mullah religion) has made a great dent in our society, our mindsets, etc. Most of the world has a perception that Germans are hardworking which is absolutely false, politely saying they are extremely lazy however how it translates into success is because here we have a say and it goes like "do the thing right the first time so that you do not have to do it again" and everyone lives by this mindset.

I have been a strong advocate that if Pakistan really wants to sling-shot itself, we should follow the same mindset but in-order to achieve it we need to implement the same mindset first across the board, "do it right the first time", however many brilliant minds in Pakistan advocate the evolutionary approach that with time things will improve, in theory, yes they will but it will be a very slow process and can easily be sidetracked as well. Even if you look at the present political situation, any sane mind can see how the nation was looted for the last 40 years but the very same political parties come out on TV, streets and pretend they did nothing, and they still have their support base as well (either uneducated, plain dumb, or vested interests).

It can be a very long discussion but in my opinion, if we really want to fix our country it can be done only if we fix our legal system and bring in a bulletproof accountability system, rest of the things will take their appropriate shape within due course. As long as we will be shifting among dilemmas we will reach nowhere.

Excellent post.

Do you see new initiatives such as the Pak Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology playing any role in creating such a shift?

 

[Lincoln]

People like to complain about how the government spends billions a year on defense, but hardly anyone talks about how much billions are wasted each year on defunct state owned enterprises. For example, the Pakistan Steel Mills retains 9k employees even though it has stopped operations in 2015. All these employees receive monthly salary from the government.

The same is happening with PIA and Pakistan Railways. Overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s state owned enterprises are in financial ruins.

Yet, rather than resolve this massive bottleneck which is plunging the country into deeper crisis, people often bark at convenient and politically charged issues such as the military budget, which is smaller than what Pakistan spends on these defunct enterprises.

Imagine how different Pakistan would be if it spend the >10-billion USD annually on education, healthcare, research and transportation for the past 5-years? Yet, these massive amounts were spent on nonfunctioning government enterprises.

Pakistan doesn’t have economic challenges, it has management problems.

Hammad, Bilawal in war of words over sacking of 4,500 PSM employees

PPP chairman says "sack Imran not workers,"; industries minister blames PPP govt for destroying Pakistan Steel Mills.

www.dawn.com

The state needs to get out of the business of running airline companies, steel Mills, trains etc. These are things the private sector can do in a much efficient and productive manner.

@Bilal Khan (Quwa) @Trailer23 @JamD

So basically, what you're saying is that we should spend more on military than we spend on all of the national enterprises combined?

Read your comparison again, but slowly.

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

People like to complain about how the government spends billions a year on defense, but hardly anyone talks about how much billions are wasted each year on defunct state owned enterprises. For example, the Pakistan Steel Mills retains 9k employees even though it has stopped operations in 2015. All these employees receive monthly salary from the government.

The same is happening with PIA and Pakistan Railways. Overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s state owned enterprises are in financial ruins.

Yet, rather than resolve this massive bottleneck which is plunging the country into deeper crisis, people often bark at convenient and politically charged issues such as the military budget, which is smaller than what Pakistan spends on these defunct enterprises.

Imagine how different Pakistan would be if it spend the >10-billion USD annually on education, healthcare, research and transportation for the past 5-years? Yet, these massive amounts were spent on nonfunctioning government enterprises.

Pakistan doesn’t have economic challenges, it has management problems.

Hammad, Bilawal in war of words over sacking of 4,500 PSM employees

PPP chairman says "sack Imran not workers,"; industries minister blames PPP govt for destroying Pakistan Steel Mills.

www.dawn.com

The state needs to get out of the business of running airline companies, steel Mills, trains etc. These are things the private sector can do in a much efficient and productive manner.

@Bilal Khan (Quwa) @Trailer23 @JamD

Bloody incompetent lusty paindoo has devoured these enterprises. While the cream of our country is swept away by rich white nations.