Was 1990s privatisation programme a failure?

The success or failure of 1990s privatisation programme has been discussed in many articles published in Analysis and Comments of Business Recorder. The article on 10th February, 2015 deserves special scrutiny.
My book "The impact of privatisation in Pakistan" was published in 2012 in which I have examined inter alia the success or failure of Privatisation in 1990s. Economists should base their conclusions on the basis of facts and figures. The table given in the article and on page 54 of my book is the same except that roti plants and banks have been added without any justification.
Roti plants in the public sector made no sense, there are tandoors spread over every nook and corner of the country. It was an inane to set them up in the public sector and all of them were running by managers appointed from Islamabad were not running well. The cent percent better performance of roti plants has distorted the Better performance column. Moreover, half the roti plants were sold to the Utility Stores Corporation, another public sector unit. Therefore, given their insignificant weight and half been sold to another public sector corporation, they reserve exclusion from the table on performance of industrial units after privatisation.
In case of banks, which were privatised, MCB performed splendidly after privatisation. Allied Bank, sold to the Union of the Bank faced problems and was privatised again to a different party during Musharraf era by the State Bank of Pakistan. Bankers Equity closed after privatisation. Hence only two units were performing better and the others were performing worse. It is factually incorrect for the Asian Development Bank to state that two were performing better and the other two same. Two were performing better and the other two much worse.
Hence if we exclude roti plants, only 18 out of 83 units which is 22% were performing better, 36% were performing worse and 42% were performing same. These figures are much different from 33% better and 28% worse given in the ADB table which lumps roti plants as industrial units.
It is amusing to read, "Zeal Pak closed its operations as the sector had become too competitive." The word "too competitive" is rarely used in economics and competition invariably breeds efficiency. The closure of Zeal Pak Cement was a typical case of assets stripping as machines were sold and factory area was converted into housing colony and plots were sold at premium prices. Zeal Pak was a gift from New Zealand under the Colombo Plan and its assets stripping must have pained New Zealand taxpayers.
Besides closure of Zeal Pak Cement, 15 other units were closed, mostly in the field of chemicals and engineering. This was undoubtedly a big setback for the economy. Unemployment in the country increased because of closure of 16 units as well as shedding of more than half the labour after privatisation. Tax revenues from the privatised units sharply decreased after privatisation because public sector units had no incentives to evade taxes as paying taxes or paying profits benefited the same government.
The author was Chairman of Ghee Corporation of Pakistan in 1987-88 which had 26 units. The Corporation was making significant profits and now only less than 10 units are in operation. Ghee making was not the monopoly of Ghee Corporation which successfully competed with private sector by optimising from economies of scale.
It is imperative for successful economic policy that it should not be ideological. Privatisation should not be pursued without reservations as an ideology. Privatisation of loss making units and the units like roti plants should be pursued with full zeal. However, across the board privatisation can be hazardous as was the case in 1990s.
An important factor in devising appropriate economic policy is inter-country comparison and gaining from the historical experience of other countries. Privatisation is not the driving force in the economic performance of China, Brazil, Korea and more recently India and Turkey. State capitalism is flourishing in China which has recorded the highest rate of economic growth in 20 years in the economic history of the world without privatisation.
The article recommends that privatisation transaction should be transparent and managed professionally. This is wishful dream in a developing country where politics is controlled by big business interest. Crony capitalism is the norm in many developing countries and often in Pakistan.