March 19, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 15, 1424

LAHORE, March 18: The government is reconstituting the Board of Investment (BoI) in the coming weeks to include the prime minister and chief ministers of the four provinces in it.

This was stated by prime minister’s adviser on investment and privatization Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, while talking to reporters after the conclusion of a seminar on “Corporate philanthropy for social investment in Pakistan” here on Tuesday. The event was arranged by the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy in collaboration with the Punjab Planning & Development Department. “Several other senior officials would also be inducted on the new BoI,” he said. Mr Hafeez said the Privatization Commission had disinvested shares of public sector units worth Rs2.80 billion through the stock exchanges during the last two months, which was a record.

He hoped against the hope that the US would not attack Iraq. “Even if the war breaks out, we’ll like it to be very short,” he added, insisting that the war would not affect the privatization process in the country.

He said bidding for the PSO would take place on April 26, which would be followed by the privatization of the Habib Bank Ltd.

The adviser was hopeful that direct foreign investment (FDI) of $1 billion would flow into Pakistan by the end of the current fiscal year. “In the first eight months of the current fiscal year up to Feb 2003, the country has already received $600 million as direct foreign investment, mainly in the oil, gas, and telecommunication sectors.”