Year: 2021

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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K-Electric deal may face trouble

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A close aide of the prime minister has stepped forward in the K-Electric deal that may lead to another controversy. Different quarters say that intervention by the premier’s close aide, who had previously worked on different positions in K-Electric, may derail the progress made so far in resolving the payables and receivables dispute among Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC), Ministry of Finance and K-Electric. The issue, which potentially erodes financial viability of both public and private sector entities and which can be traced back…

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Phase-wise sale of firms proposed

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Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Power Tabish Gauhar has suggested the privatisation of five power distribution companies in Punjab in the first phase after clearing their loans to improve the balance sheet and enable them to borrow from banks for restructuring. During discussions in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP), he commented on the draft report prepared by a working group and suggested that it would be more appropriate to privatise five distribution companies in Punjab in the first phase and the remaining three more challenging…

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