Month: August 2021

More power import from Iran likely

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Pakistan has decided to increase import of electricity to 70MW from Iran to meet the needs of Gwadar even though an earlier plan to import additional electricity hit a snag due to US sanctions. Pakistan and China are developing Gwadar Port under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the latter is also setting up a 300MW coalfired power plant. Pakistan decided to import 70MW additional power from Iran to meet the immediate needs of Gwadar in case the coal-fired power plants suffered a delay in commissioning. The plan to import…

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Govt defers approval of new IGCEP

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A cabinet body on Monday deferred approval of a World Bank dictated new power generation capacity plan after governments of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Punjab raised issues of adverse impact of the plan on relations with China and economic growth.   The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCOE) had been called to give approval of the Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan – known as IGCEP 2021-30. The IGCEP policy approval is a pre-condition for the release of the $400 million loan tranche that the World Bank approved in June…

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Taliban inherit untapped $1trn trove of minerals

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The Taliban now hold the keys to an untouched trillion-dollar trove of minerals including some that could power the world’s transition to renewable energies, but Afghanistan has long struggled to tap its vast deposits. The Taliban are already in a financial bind since they returned to power 20 years after their ouster, as major aid donors halted their support for Afghanistan. Endless wars and poor infrastructure have prevented the country from getting its hands on the metals that could brighten its economic fortunes. Taliban blame US for airport chaos as…

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Iran’s president says ‘a lot of possibilities’ for oil sales as nuclear talks stalled

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During his speech, Raisi said one of his priorities will be to export more added-value refined oil products. Iran produced 2.52 million b/d in July, its highest since April 2019, according to the latest S&P Global Platts survey. Despite US sanctions that are intended to heavily penalize buyers of Iranian oil, China’s independent refineries have maintained some level of Iranian crude imports, mainly Iran Light and some Iran Heavy, in the past few years, according to market sources. Talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action…

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New windows for financial inclusion

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WFor the longest time, Pakistani banks have come under fire for being rent-seeking organisations that do nothing but park the public’s money in risk-free government securities. That is well-evidenced by the investment-to-deposits ratio consistently staying well above 60 per cent, and clocking in at 75pc in July. This government borrowing in turn leads to crowding out of the private sector, where again most of the funds are channelled towards the few big corporates. Meanwhile, small and medium enterprises (SME) continue to be deprived of capital and thus fail to scale.…

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