THERE has been a consistent, significant outflow of dollars from Pakistan to Afghanistan ever since the US froze the war-ravaged country’s reserves following the Taliban takeover in summer last year. Until then, Afghanistan had been a notable exporter of dollars — poured into its economy by the US — to Pakistan for years. Thus, the reversal of Afghan fortunes has had a considerable impact on Pakis
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the government had “no other option” but to implement the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, calling it a “painful reality”. Pakistan entered a $6bn IMF programme in 2019, which was increased to $7bn earlier this year. The programme’s ninth review is currently pending for the release of $1.18bn. It had earlier been put off for two mon
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday decided to reduce fuel cost adjustment (FCA) for the consumers of K-Electric by Rs7.43 per unit for one month, but increased its base tariff for three months by Rs3.30 per unit to reduce government subsidy. On the other hand, the regulator allowed an increase of about 19 paise per unit for the consumers of ex-Wapda distribution
The power sector default now stands at Rs2.5 trillion in addition to Rs2.6tr of circular debt despite over Rs3.4tr of subsidies paid since 2007 and total power sector losses of Rs5.7tr, a direct outcome of bad policies pursued by successive governments on the advice of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and USAID. The poor governance structure controlled by the federal bureaucracy without t
The State Bank of Pakistan has eased imports of several essential items required as raw material and some basic needs of the exporters. A circular issued by the SBP on Tuesday stated that the central bank had decided to withdraw its instructions with effect from Jan 2, 2023, paving the way for acceptance of requests for import transactions already submitted to the SBP. Earlier, under circula