Month: July 2020

WB urges G20 to extend debt relief

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WASHINGTON: Warning that a true economic recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic remains “in the distant future,” a top World Bank official on Friday urged G20 nations to extend debt relief for the poorest nations. Cautioning policymakers not to “confuse rebound with recovery,” newly-installed World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart called for an extension to the existing debt moratorium. G20 finance ministers are set to hold a virtual meeting Saturday, and are expected to discuss the status of the debt relief initiative. She called the initial step “useful” but said,…

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Power tariff adjustment, other matters

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ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) linked the resumption of Extended Fund Facility Programme to “clear” plan of power tariff adjustment, mobilization of taxes as well as amendments in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) for quarterly adjustments in tariff and changes in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) law. Background interaction with officials of Finance Ministry revealed the government wanted to remain in the IMF programme but at the same time some requirements are to be fulfilled as the Fund has been seeking firm commitments from the economic…

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After rail, India set to lose Iran gas project

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After being “dropped” from a key rail project in southeastern Iran along the border with Afghanistan, India is also set to lose an ambitious gas field project in the country that had been in the pipeline for past 10 years. India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a statement on Thursday said Tehran would develop the Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf region “on its own” and might engage India “appropriately at a later stage”. Last week, Masoud Karbasian, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told reporters that…

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Work starts on world’s longest electricity cable – which will share cheap, clean energy between the UK and Europe

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Work has started on the world’s longest electricity interconnector – which will eventually help share cheap, clean energy between the UK and northern Europe. National Grid’s Viking Link will stretch 475 miles from Bicker Fen, near Boston, in Lincolnshire, across the North Sea to Revsing in South Jutland, Denmark. Because wind generation outputs in the UK and Denmark often happen at different times it means surplus electricity can be shared, helping the the UK’s journey to becoming net zero. On top of that it will give Britain access to a…

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U.S. Regulators Approve Elba Island LNG Expansion

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U.S. regulators have approved a request from Kinder Morgan to authorize the start of the seventh train of the Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Georgia, Reuters reported on Friday. Kinder Morgan owns 51 percent in the Elba Island LNG project which cost around US$2 billion. Trains one through six are already operational, with four more planned for this year, Kinder Morgan said earlier this year. Elba Island began LNG exports in December last year, but hasn’t exported superchilled fuel from the facility since January because the…

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