The World Bank fears that following the upcoming elections, strong and organised vested interests may spur a number of potential reversals on critical policy reforms — committed to multilateral lenders — posing ‘high’ macroeconomic risks to Pakistan. The possible reversals include the rationalisation of gas and electricity subsidies, lower trade tariffs and better property tax realisation. “
Production of electrical products witnessed a steep fall of over 13 per cent during the first four months of FY24 due to the high cost of manufacturing and the sharp increase in electricity prices. Out of 10, nine electrical products posted negative growth during July-October 2023-24 while others were already on the negative list of production in the previous fiscal year. The FY23 witnessed
After a decades-long delay, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has started granting first-ever separate licences of Suppliers of Last Resort (SoLR) to existing distribution companies (Discos) for 20 years to bifurcate their distribution (wire & pole infrastructure) and electricity supply (commercial & billing etc) businesses for future bilateral competitive power business.
The new government in Pakistan must have a plan to tackle the debt challenge, with a reform agenda enhancing financial management, increasing revenue, enforcing fiscal discipline, diversifying funding sources and effectively managing debt, suggests the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UN agency’s latest publication — Development Advocate Pakistan — further suggests that parliame
Falling world commodity prices, low transportation costs and stability in the exchange rate have failed to bring any respite for the consumers in the last five months as retail prices either crawled up or held unchanged due to an ineffective price checking mechanism. A drop of over 16 per cent in food imports during 5MFY24 to $3.35 billion from $4bn in the same period last year might have helpe