Day: June 5, 2022

The government is likely to withdraw the subsidy of Rs.5 per unit from June 1, 2022, extended to electricity consumers using 700 units monthly across the country sans ToU (Time of Use) meters, under former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Relief Package on the pressure of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. Sharing the details, sources said, on a summary for the ECC submitted by the Power Division, the ECC of the Cabinet, on March 7, 2022, approved a relief of Rs 5. KWh reduction in…

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has allowed late Friday night a raise in gas prices up to 45 percent in order to meet the revenue shortfall of both gas utilities – SNGPL and SSGC. In its decisions, the regulator has allowed the SNGPL an increase of 45 percent. The gas company had demanded a 198 percent increase in gas tariff. The financial impact of previous years’ shortfall of Rs 264.8 billion which accounted for Rs 720.20 per MMBtu was referred to the federal government for an appropriate policy…

Pakistan’s increasing population coupled with increasing demand of agriculture and other sectors and heavy dependence on Indus River for our water requirement is making Pakistan vulnerable to climatic shocks. Dr Mohsin Hafeez, Country Representative-Pakistan and Regional Representative-Central Asia, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) stated this while speaking at a media workshop arranged by the IWMI to mark the ‘World Environment Day’ and sensitize the media on Pakistan’s water security challenges and the need to protect the most vulnerable from water scarcity and deterioration of water resources. The World Environment Day…

As the oil prices have been increased by another Rs30/liter and power tariff has gone up by Rs7.9/unit the Businessmen Panel (BMP) of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has stated that the government has dropped a fuel bomb on the businessmen after it suffered an electric shock to meet the conditions of IMF for the revival of the stalled loan programme – a recipe to shake the trade and industry. The Businessmen Panel (BMP) chairman and FPCCI former president said that the decision would prove…

The government on Friday increased the defence budget for the outgoing fiscal year by nearly 6% to over Rs1.45 trillion in a bid to meet the needs of the armed forces, including their enhanced salary requirements. The decision to increase the defence budget by another Rs80 billion was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet that in total approved Rs182 billion in supplementary grants. The ECC also approved slapping a 10% regulatory duty on the import of petrol from China to curb the misuse of bilateral free…

The business community has asked the government to exempt the industrial zones from electricity loadshedding, as the power crisis, all over the country, has worsened and the total shortfall has crossed the level of more than 6,500MW. Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front senior vice chairman Nasir Hameed and vice chairman Javed Siddiqi, in a joint statement, said that all the major industrial cities of the country are facing electricity loadshedding due to which the production activities are badly suffering. He said that rural areas are also facing severe loadshedding…