photo: AFPThe government and commercial banks have agreed on a Rs268 billion debt restructuring plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The Ministry of Finance, abandoning its previous stance of not incorporating PIA debt into public debt, now commits to making principal and interest payments from the budget. Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad remained persistent in his demand to make PIA debt part of public debt, Finance Secretary, Imdad Ullah Bosal, and Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar finally agreed to the proposal with some caveats. Despite the agreement on the most contentious issue affecting its privatisation, PIA is nowhere close to privatisation. The finance minister said two weeks ago that PIA’s Rs825 billion debt would be transferred into a holding company.
