Former finance minister of Pakistan and an estranged leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Miftah Ismail, on Monday spelled out the reasons for the government’s failure to auction off the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Speaking exclusively to City 21, Ismail said the PIA would suffer a loss of Rs150 billion in the last quarter of the current fiscal year due to the government’s failure to auction off the national flag carrier. He said the PIA would suffer a similar loss next year and the people of Pakistan would bear the brunt of this loss. He said the PIA was under a cumulative debt of Rs800 billion and the government has taken responsibility to pay Rs600 billion of this debt.
He said that four of the five bidders had quit the PIA bidding process. He said the SISC should call all of them and ask them why did they do so. Referring to reports that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has shown interest in buying the PIA, Miftah said this is a stupid thing as this is not a province's job to run an airline.
The sole bidder taking part in PIA's bidding process offered only Rs10 billion bid to buy stakes in Pakistan's national airline. This bid by the Blue World Consortium was Rs75 billion less than the minimum bidding amount set by the government.