The government will seek new expressions of interest (EOI) for the sale of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) later this month following the national airline’s first annual profit of over 20 years, a government adviser announced on Thursday.
The efforts to privatize Pia were prevented by unresolved issues relating to taxation and the airline’s balance. Muhammad Ali, government adviser for privatization, stated that these issues have now been addressed.
The new EOI is expected to be published at the end of April 2025 with plans to end privatization before the end of the year.
In addition to Pia, the government has also initiated the privatization process for power distribution companies and marked it as a high priority. Ali noted that some companies originally planned for the second phase would now be included in the first phase of privatization.
The government has tried to privatize PIA for the purpose of reading a 51-100% share in the debt-loaded airline as part of the reforms under a $ 7 billion internationally monetary fund program. However, a previous trial failed last year when only one bid was received, well below the requested price of $ 300 million.
