Month: April 2024

Pakistan, Iran sign 8 agreements, MoUs: Trade volumes to be hiked to $10bn in 5 years

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New-iran

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to $10 billion in the next five years following the signing of as many as eight agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for cooperation in different areas. Speaking after witnessing the signing of the agreements and MoUs between the two sides, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that a fruitful discussion was held between the two sides including security and investment during the meeting. He said that Iran was among those countries which recognised Pakistan after 1947. The…

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Crude oil futures climb back into positive territory

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Oil price

US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1%, or 0.01%, at $83.15 a barrel at 1651 GMT HOUSTON: US crude futures returned to positive territory on Monday after falling on easing fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 1 cent, or 0.01 percent, at $83.15 a barrel at 1651 GMT. The front-month WTI crude contract for May expires on Monday.Brent crude futures were down 33 cents, or 0.38 percent, at $86.96 a barrel. Both benchmarks had been down more than $1…

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Gas crisis looms as line pack pressure hits dangerous level

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New-RLNG

ISLAMABAD: The country’s system line pack has once again increased alarmingly to 5.070 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), putting the whole gas transmission line under severe stress. This is mainly due to the lower utilisation of regulated liquefied natural gas (RLNG) by the power and industrial sectors. To decrease the line pack pressure, Sui gas companies are excessively diverting the costly RLNG to the domestic sector, even after the beginning of the summer season. This will cause a further increase in gas tariffs for the domestic sector, senior officials…

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Pakistan Faces Dire Climate Threats, World Bank Warns

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Climate-Threats

The threat of climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities within Pakistan, amplifying risks to livelihoods, food security, and water resources. The World Bank has sounded the alarm, highlighting Pakistan’s acute vulnerability to the ravages of climate change. In a recent report titled “Second Resilient Institutions for Sustainable Economy: Climate Change Technical Note,” the global financial institution underscored that the South Asian nation faces frequent fiscal shocks due to extreme weather events. The threat of climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities within Pakistan, amplifying risks to livelihoods, food security, and water resources. Around…

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Chronic power defaulters: Govt faces challenging task of over Rs1trn recovery

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power-sector

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has the challenging task of recovering the huge amount of over Rs1 trillion from chronic running defaulters of five power Distribution Companies (Discos) of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan.Last week, Minister for Power, Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari at a press conference revealed that total stock of receivables stood at Rs 1.9 trillion as of February 28, 2024. The stock of circular debt is about Rs 2.6 trillion.Background interviews with officials indicate that the share of Punjab-based Discos i.e. Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), Gujranwala…

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