Day: March 26, 2021

SAPM Nadeem Babar asked to step down over fuel crisis: Asad Umar

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Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar has been asked to resign from his position over last year’s fuel crisis, federal minister Asad Umar announced on Friday. Addressing a press conference, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had asked Babar to step down from the position for a 90-day period, during which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will conduct a forensic investigation into the “criminal acts” that led to the fuel crisis. The agency will be bound to submit its report within 90 days based on which…

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Pakistan’s power crisis: Trans-Mission Impossible

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Poor governance, incompetence, lack of transparency, distribution and transmission losses (a euphemism for theft), have made powering Pakistan a transMission Impossible. A recently released book by the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars (Wilson Center) reviews the energy crisis in Pakistan and raises the question if there is a way out of Pakistan’s endless energy crisis? A careful read of the book reveals that while there may be a way or more out of this mess, there are, however, no shortcuts. Given the challenges and structural constraints, Pakistanis may have to live…

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IMF Executive Board completes reviews of Pakistan’s economy; approves $500m for budget support

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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the second, third, fourth and fifth reviews of the Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Pakistan and approved an immediate disbursement of $500 million for budget support. Following the Executive Board discussion on Pakistan on March 24, IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement that the Pakistani government had “continued to make satisfactory progress” under the programme, which she termed as an “important policy anchor during an unprecedented period”. “While the Covid-19…

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Tree plantation vital to keep atmosphere pollution free: Amin Aslam

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Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said tree plantation is highly important to keep an atmosphere clean and healthy. He said this while inaugurating the Miyawaki Forest at Botanical Garden Jallo here on Thursday. He said planting trees was the only way to deal with smog and environmental pollution. He congratulated the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) on the completion of the Miyawaki Forest. The SAPM said 50 sites selected for the Miyawaki Forest had been completed, adding that more than 10 million saplings…

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Circular debt threatens sustainability of power supply chain – Abdulaziz Aljomaih

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Abdulaziz Hamad Aljomaih, representing Aljomaih Group of Saudi Arabia with major shareholdings in K-Electric, Pakistan’s only private and vertically integrated utility, held a range of high-level meetings in Islamabad and Karachi during recent visit to Pakistan, including the Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Arif Alvi, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Privatization Minister Mohammedmian Soomro and Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan. Appreciating the assurances of the Government of Pakistan towards resolution of KE’s long-standing issues, he said, “biggest challenge is the issue of pending receivables which have now crossed PKR 275…

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