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Essay / Privatization policy in Pakistan
Privatization is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan. Privatization in Pakistan was simply a program of policy measures during the economic period of Pakistan. It was first conceived and implemented by the then popularly elected Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and the Pakistan Muslim League, with the aim of enabling nationalized industries to move towards the market economy, immediately after the economic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1990. The program was envisaged and adapted to improve the GDP growth of the national economy of Pakistan and to reverse the nationalization program of the 1970s, in reverse of the privatization program. Say no to plagiarism. Get Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayAccording to Hakro and Akram, (2009) The process of privatization began in the late 1980s in Pakistan with a mission statement clear: "Privatization is envisaged to promote competition, ensuring greater capital investment, greater competitiveness and modernization, which will result in improved employment, better provision of products and services quality to consumers and a reduction in the tax burden. The success of the process is widely debated: economists put forward several arguments in favor of the transfer of public and parapublic companies to the private sector. Other economists think this might not happen for a number of reasons. The struggles for privatization in Pakistan began in 1988 with different policies. But it was not until the creation of the Privatization Commission (PC) on January 22, 1991 that the step of privatization took the plunge. Although the PC's mandate was primarily limited to industrial transactions, in November 1993 it expanded to include energy (electricity, oil and gas), transportation (aviation, railways, ports and shipping), telecommunications, as well as banks and insurance (commercial banks, development). financial companies and insurance companies), etc. 66 units privatized between 1991 and 1994. By the end of 1997, the total had risen to 92, while by the end of 2004; this number stood at 121 and, on August 12, 2006, at 161. Since 1990, Pakistan has sold 167 state-owned enterprises for a price of approximately 476 billion rupees. The first phase of privatization, from 1992 to 1996, included the partial privatization of banks; it was followed by the second phase (1997-2000), leading to the complete privatization of the banking sector. And the last phase of privatization, from 2001 to 2008, was marked by the liquidation of the non-banking sectors. Previous privatization measures caused more unemployment and market monopolies. And the sectors which were privatized were totally transferred from the government to some selected families, who controlled the economy since the creation of Pakistan. Currently, the government has developed many reports and feasible plans with the aim of privatizing state-owned enterprises. The sectors which have become flagships of the new phase of the privatization policy of 2013 are PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and public sector power projects including Pakistan Transmission and Dispatch Company (PTDC). However, the sale of 26% of PIA shares is also under the new phase of privatization policy (2013). This is the fourth phase of privatization since the start of privatization in Pakistan (1990). The government strongly asserts that the new phase of privatization in 2013 will not only overcome the budget deficit, as well as the..