The Pakistan government has decided to sell its precious unutilised state properties at the Dubai Expo to attract foreign and Pakistani investors, according to media reports on Thursday, as the cash-strapped country tries to overcome a ballooning balance-of-payments crisis and bolster its public finances.

“Unfortunately, criminal negligence was done by the previous governments as they did not utilising these valuable properties. Despite billions of rupees’ assets, various federal government institutions are bearing losses of billions of rupees every year,” Khan said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the precious government properties will be sold for better utilisation of funds on public welfare projects.

“These unutilised state properties will be marketed at the Dubai Expo to attract foreign and Pakistani investors to buy these assets,” Privatisation Secretary Rizwan Malik informed the prime minister.

Khan also warned that stern action would be initiated against officers found to be creating hurdles in the identification of non-utilised government-owned properties.

The International Monetary Fund in July approved a three-year USD 6 billion loan for Pakistan with tough conditions to address its balance of payment crisis and help the country’s ailing economy return to “sustainable growth”.