Month: April 2021

Spending on defence, development likely to remain flat till 2026

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The country’s development and defence budgets have shrunk significantly over the past two years and spending at a reduced level will remain almost flat in the medium term, that is until 2026, in line with fiscal consolidation measures under the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. Documents released by the IMF after revival of its programme about two weeks ago show that Pakistan’s defence budget has declined from 3 per cent of GDP in FY2017-18 to 2.9pc last year and would drop to 2.8pc of GDP this year. The spending…

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Cut in rate of return of 12 IPPs to help govt save Rs150bn

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The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday approved reduction from 17 to 12-13 per cent in the Return on Equity (RoE), Return on Equity during Construction (RoEDC), Operation & Maintenance and Insurance components of a total of 12 renewable independent power producers (IPPs) under renegotiated tariff contracts with the government. The regulator said the reduction in tariffs will result in estimated savings of around Rs150 billion over the remaining life of the projects. Of the total, seven projects are based on bagasse, three on wind and two solar…

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Promoting Sustainable Construction Sector

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A year after the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction sector has shown robust growth and contributed to the revival of economic activity in Pakistan. The housing and real estate activity has taken off on the back of an incentive package and low-cost housing projects announced by the government. Till October last year, a total of 127 projects had been registered at an estimated cost of Rs.63 billion to avail the scheme. In addition, a further 114 projects worth around Rs.109 billion were also under the process of being registered. Economic revival…

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Electricity workers observe Safety Day

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The Safety Day was observed all over the country on Thursday to highlight the issues of Electricity/Wapda workers. The Safety Day was observed under the aegis of All-Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union CBA for the safety of field staff working on electricity lines, grid stations and power houses. Recently, two linemen died of electrocution on Faisalabad Road sub division and Phool Nagar sub division while two members of the line staff were burnt in Sukkur and Larkana while working on 11KV line while some of the employees had become…

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Power base tariff to be further raised, govt told

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ISLAMABAD: The federal government has assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will further increase power base tariff by Rs 1.39 per unit from June 1, 2021 in addition to quarterly and monthly adjustments while acknowledging that adjustments of energy tariffs brought them closer to cost recovery. This was disclosed in the second to fifth staff reviews under the extended fund facility arrangement and request for re-phasing of access uploaded on the IMF website Thursday. To strike a balance between achieving cost recovery and softening the social and economic…

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