As Pakistan's economy showed second-fastest growth in the world after China in 2005, the pace of privatisation has picked up from a jog to a sprint in the country under Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, says an in-depth television and online feature in the BBC.
"The Prime Minister is the chief architect of privatisation and is widely respected among foreign investors," the report said. The report quoted Prime Minister Aziz as saying that well-run companies were being packaged and offered to investors from around the world.
"Pakistan has had the most broad-based structural reforms of any country in Asia. Last year, we were the second-fastest growing economy in the world after China. We grew at 6.4 percent," said the Prime Minister in the BBC feature, adding that he estimated privatisation would bring in more than dollars three billion in foreign investment this year, the highest in the country's history.
The BBC feature also focused on the latest company to be sold off to foreign bidders: Pakistan Steel, the country's only steel company which had been bought by a Russian-led consortium backed by a Saudi Arabia steel mill and a Pakistani brokerage company.
The report said Pakistan Steel achieved record production levels, sales and profits in 2005, after years of under-performing, sending steel prices soaring which, in turn, created more demand and led to higher prices, enabling the company to invest more and reduce debt, lowering interest payments to banks.
According to the report, the current Chairman of Pakistan Steel Lieutenant General Abdul Qayyum was credited with helping transform its fortunes during his two-and-a-half year tenure.