Month: May 2020

ISLAMABAD: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir has reportedly projected GDP growth between -2 per cent to -3 per cent if lockdown continues for 60 days, well informed sources told Business Recorder. He shared his projections for Q4 of current financial year and the projections for FY 21 at a recent meeting held to discuss post Covid 19 effects on macroeconomic outlook. Prime Minister’s Advisor on Finance and Revenue, Dr. Hafeez Shaikh presided over the meeting. Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Reza Baqir informed the meeting…

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The tariff is around $0.0021 lower than the $0.0156/kWh French oil giant Total and Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp offered in Qatar’s 800 MW tender in late January. French energy company EDF and Chinese solar company JinkoPower reportedly submitted the record bid in the UAE exercise. With that tweet, the media office of the UAE government announced the world’s lowest price for solar electricity was today agreed in the 1.5 GW solar tender the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) launched in July. The EDF-Jinko bid of $0.0135/kWh is around $0.0021…

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Nestlé UK signed a corporate power purchase agreement for 31 megawatts of output from the Race Bank wind farm off the North Norfolk coast. The deal is expected to cover half of the food and beverage subsidiary’s power consumption. Starting on May 1, 2020, Race Bank wind farm will provide 125 gigawatt hours to Nestlé UK under the terms of a new 15-year indexed fixed-price agreement with Ørsted. Race Bank opened in June 2018 with the capacity to generate 573 MW from 91 Siemens Gamesa 6-MW wind turbines. The other…

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This refers to the news story, ‘Govt grants license for 100 MW solar power plants’ (April 28). These two plants of 50 MW each will be established at Sukkur and Kohat respectively, costing $100 million. This is indeed a satisfying moment to generate pollution-free electricity direly needed. Solar energy is also safe, secure, reliable and cheaper energy. The government’s policy to generate 25 percent electricity through renewable sources is an achievable task. At present, a meagre five percent is being obtained through wind, solar and bagasse. The target of 20…

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LAHORE: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar on Friday said the government as part of its efforts to revive the pandemic-hit economy was developing a comprehensive strategy for restoring activities of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), especially Allama Iqbal Industrial City, in consultation with stakeholders. Azhar said this during a meeting with Mian Kashif Ashfaq, chairman Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) who called on the minister at his office. He said the federal government was also working on revival of textile industry and despite the huge…

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