Month: September 2022

Pakistan can import oil from Russia on deferred payment as both countries are in talks to discuss the possibility, a senior government functionary revealed on Sunday after the recent meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand. The official, who was part of the prime minister’s delegation, told The Express Tribune that PM Shehbaz at least held three meetings with President Putin. “One was formal and the rest were informal,” the official, who requested anonymity because of…

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The government’s plan to inject 10,000 MW of electricity through solar power projects is under threat following opposition from power distribution companies interested in maintaining their monopoly. In order to retain their monopoly, Power Distribution Companies (Discos) are placing hurdles in implementing the net metering system for domestic consumers who have installed solar power systems. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and other cabinet members, had expressed serious concerns when this issue was taken up in a recent meeting. Furthermore, there were reports that power distribution companies had bound domestic consumers who…

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The government is likely to appoint Atif Sabir Khan as Chairman Board of Directors (BoD) of National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) in place of Naveed Ismail, as the company has witnessed a visible decline during the latter’s term, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. The other independent directors of NTDC will be Major General M Azeem Asif (retired), Khaqan Najeeb, Ishaq Aulakh and Mahreen Khan, whereas there will be no change in non-executive directors and executive director. The sources said the Power Division has sent its summary to Prime Minister Shehbaz…

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Ministry of Finance has sought an update from the Ministry of Energy (Power Division and Petroleum Division) on commitments/ actions made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) including power tariff adjustments and increasing PDL to Rs 50/ litre. The seventh and eighth combined reviews of IMF’s EFF Programme have been completed. The Memorandum of Economic end Financial Policies (MEFP) agreed with the IMF provides a structural benchmark, indicative targets, and other actions relevant to the Ministry of Energy. According to Finance Ministry, there are two structural benchmarks:(i) finalization of the…

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Human-caused climate change likely contributed to the deadly floods that submerged parts of Pakistan in recent weeks, according to a rapid analysis on Thursday looking at how much global heating was to blame. An international team of climate scientists at the World Weather Attribution group said that rainfall in the worst-hit regions had increased as much as 75 per cent in recent decades and concluded that manmade activity likely boosted record levels of August precipitation in Sindh and Balochistan provinces. The resulting flooding affected over 33 million people, destroyed 1.7…

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