Month: May 2022

Pakistan Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government was committed to reviving the International Monetary Fund program and putting the country back on a “sustainable growth path” after talks with the multilateral lender ended inconclusively the previous day.  There’s now a prospect of a default for the second time in Pakistan’s history even though the IMF said there was “considerable progress” in the discussions. Dollar bonds from Pakistan were among the worst in emerging markets on Thursday.  Separately, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the Parliament will decide the next…

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In its bid to address the energy crisis, the government is considering signing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase agreement with different countries including Russia. The government “will go for the most favourable deal,” the Ministry of Energy said in a statement, reported Bloomberg. The South Asian country is considering a government-to-government agreement to import LNG, added the report. The development comes at a time when most countries are refraining from maintaining trading ties with Russia due to sanctions imposed on the country in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s…

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A federal government adviser said on Tuesday Pakistan had directed authorities in the southwestern Balochistan province as well as the power division of the country to initiate talks with Iran on the purchase of an additional 100 megawatts of electricity to fulfill the daily power needs of Gwadar, a port city at the center of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Balochistan is Pakistan’s most underdeveloped and neglected region, and Gwadar is not connected to the national grid. It had instead relied on power from neighboring Iran but that…

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Islamabad (Bloomberg): Pakistan has indicated it is considering signing a liquefied natural gas purchase agreement with several nations, including Russia, to ensure supply and alleviate a severe shortfall. The government “will pursue the most advantageous contract,” according to a statement released by the Ministry of Energy to Bloomberg News. According to the statement, Pakistan is considering a government-to-government contract for the import of power plants and industrial petroleum. Due to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, only a few countries are prepared to sign new LNG contracts with Russia, and…

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday emphasised upon Pakistan the urgency of “removing fuel and energy subsidies” to achieve programme objectives. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had earlier this week said he would convey to the IMF that fuel and energy subsidies — which were introduced by the previous PTI government — could not be reversed as the “nation cannot endure it”. But in a statement issued earlier today, the IMF said it had “emphasised the urgency of concrete policy actions, including in the context of removing fuel and energy…

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