SOEs have become nearly unsustainable: Mian Zahid

Business Recorder reported that Mian Zahid Hussain, who leads the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, says losses at state-owned enterprises point to a structural problem needing sustained reform. He cited a Cabinet Committee meeting held in Islamabad on September 14, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, which reviewed federal SOE results for the first six months of FY2025-26. The committee heard that profitable entities earned Rs423.3 billion between July and December 2025, while loss-makers booked Rs342.8 billion.

Government support to SOEs reached Rs804 billion, whereas these bodies paid Rs839 billion into the exchequer, leaving a net gain of Rs35 billion for the state. Mian Zahid Hussain said cumulative losses of failing commercial SOEs have passed Rs6.5 trillion as of December 2025, with current losses now around Rs2.5 to Rs3 billion a day. Total SOE debt, about Rs250 billion in FY2005-06, has grown 38 times to reach Rs9.57 trillion in the first six months of FY2025-26.

Mian Zahid Hussain attributed over 85 percent of long-term losses to power distribution companies, and cited the National Highway Authority, Pakistan Railways and Pakistan Steel Mills as other burdens. He also noted that the Rs80.5 billion surplus rests mainly on a few profitable oil and gas firms and financial institutions, which he called fragile. He added that this capital use is crowding out private sector borrowing, making industrial financing harder to obtain.