ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission board Wednesday recommended a transaction structure for the sale of the country’s primary agricultural lender.
The commission’s board, which met here with Adviser to the Prime Minister Muhammad Ali in the chair, endorsed a restructuring plan for Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), with the package now headed to the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) for final consideration.
ZTBL, which finances rural and farming communities across Pakistan, represents one of the more politically sensitive assets in the government’s privatisation pipeline, given agriculture’s outsized role in the national economy.
In a separate clarification, the commission clarified a news report, confirming that transaction structures for three power distribution companies, Faisalabad Electric Supply Company, Gujranwala Electric Power Company and Islamabad Electric Supply Company, were already approved at an April 14 board meeting, not still pending as the report suggested.
Once the CCoP signs off, the government will invite expressions of interest (EoIs) from prospective buyers for the three distributors, which form the first tranche of power sector sell-off.
