ISLAMABAD: The sit-ins and street protests by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) triggered slump in the shares’ price of state-owned Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), forcing the government to put off its planned disinvestment of 10 percent shares of the state’s giant.
“Apparently annoyed” Federal Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar blamed while addressing a press conference here.
The PML-N stalwart put on a ‘brave face’ resolving that Pakistan should not be seen as distressed sellers and the nation assets would not be sold or disinvested under pressure.
He informed that the government had decided to hold back auction of 10 percent of shares of the OGDCL, saying that had the government gone ahead with the sale, it would have only fetch $180 million from abroad and $160 million locally.
It is to be noted that Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and firebrand cleric Tahirul Qadri led thousands of supporters in weeks of protests outside parliament, pressing for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over alleged rigging general elections.
The rallies, which began in August, descended into violence at points.
“Due to sit-ins the share price of OGDCL fell from 274 rupees ($2.60) to 225 rupees ($2.20) and we do not want to sell so low,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told a press conference.
Dar pointed out that had there been no sit-in and share price had remained same, the government would have received $600 million, $200 million domestically, adding that recent slump in international oil prices had also contributed to the lukewarm response.
The minister claimed that the government had disseminated a ‘powerful message’ which pushed the OGDCL shares price to around 240 rupees.
The Privatisation Commission had offered 311 million shares to international investors, but it got offers for merely 50 percent.
Opposition parties and the employees of the company had also opposed the OGDCL auction.
Khan and Qadri’s rallies forced Chinese President Xi Jinping to cancel a planned trip to Pakistan in September, and the unrest also saw the rupee lose more than four per cent of its value against the dollar in August.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday indicated Pakistan was on track to receive the latest tranche of $6.8 billion bailout package agreed last year.
