The Pakistan government has agreed to retain at least a 51% shareholding in PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) following a heated debate in parliament about plans to transform the debt-ridden carrier into a public limited company.
The government's plans to privatize the carrier in line with IMF-mandated economic readjustment measures, have encountered strong criticism in recent months - from the left wing Pakistan Peoples Party in particular.
As such, the pledge to retain shareholding and managerial control, as well as to retain PIA's headquarters in Karachi, is expected to placate growing concerns among the carrier's 17,000-strong workforce about their prospects under a 'new' privatized PIA.
Threatened with impending layoffs, employees staged a series of strikes in January this year leading to the IMF agreeing to delay by six months, a deadline for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government to sell off a 24% stake in PIA to a suitable strategic investor. As a result, the last date for the submission of proposals has now been set at May 15.
