The Board of Privatisation Commission met under Abdul Aleem Khan met to decide the minimum requirements and also approved the formation of a pre-qualification committee.

The government is looking to complete the privatisation of the national flag carrier by June this year.

The federal government owns 96% of PIA’s shares and is looking to offload as much as 51% of them.

The Board has set the mimimum net worth of a prospective bidder at Rs30 billion ($100 million).

In case of a consortium, they must prove a networth of Rs200 billion ($700 million) and the led bidder must have a net worth of Rs8 billion ($25 million).

The Commission has also decided that foreign airlines willnot be able to buy stakes in the PIA. Foreign investors are allowed to bid but only in partnership with Pakistani nationals.