Islamabad: More than 15 public companies (public enterprises) accumulated 5.89 billions of RS of RS of combined losses, according to the Ministry of Finance, renewing the concerns about the financial health of the public sector of Pakistan, which entered by governance and the shortcomings of reform.
The figures, covering the first half of the year 2024-25 (July to December 2024), highlight the persistent losses in the key sectors, in particular energy and infrastructure, said the central ministry’s surveillance unit (CMU) in its biannual performance report.
The ministry said that total income has dropped 8% and that profits dropped by 10% in the first half of fiscal year 25.
The MCU report reveals that the National Highway Authority (NHA) has become the largest creator of losses, its cumulative deficit reaching 19.53 Billion of rupees. In just six months, the NHA recorded a new loss of 153.27 billion rupees.
Electricity distribution companies (Disco) also continued to bleed money. The Quetta Electric Supply Company (Qesco) said losses of 58.10 billion rupees in the six months, while Sepco, based in Sukkur, lost 29.60 billion rupees. Total septo losses have now reached nearly 473 billion rupees.
The situation is not better at the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), which posted a loss of six months of 19.68 billion rupees, bringing its overall deficit to nearly 685 billion rupees.
The report shows that the energy sector remains a major source of circular debt, the liabilities now located at 4.9 billions of rupees. The electricity sector alone represents 2.4 billions of rupees of this total.
Retirement liabilities also add to financial pressure. The report believes that pending retirement payments have inflated to Rs1.7 Billions.
Among the other entities in difficulty, the steelworks of Pakistan displayed a loss of six months of RS15.60 billion, bringing its total losses to 255.82 billion rupees. Meanwhile, Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) lost 7 billion rupees during the same period.
According to the Ministry of Finance, distribution companies continue to show a disturbing trend in increasing losses.
In addition, in accordance with the half -yearly report, public enterprises won 6.459 billions of gross income rupees from July to December 2024 – a drop of 7.9% compared to the same period last year. The decline was mainly due to the drop in world oil prices and the decline in internal interest rates, which have reached the profits of oil and banks.
The total profits of all public enterprises fell to 457 billion rupees. Loss companies have recorded a combined loss of RS343 billion. After adjusting these losses, the overall net profit came to Rs114 billion, slightly better than the benefit of 101 billion rupees recorded a year earlier.
The overall financial health of public enterprises has shown a slight improvement. Their total liabilities increased by just over 1% to Rs31.09 Billions, while the value of their assets increased by 3.75% to 37.72 rumber. Consequently, their net capital – the difference between assets and liabilities – increased by almost 19%, reaching 6.63 billions of rupees.
