Finance: Navigating continuing challenges

Pakistan’s electricity supply companies caused a staggering Rs660 billion loss to the national exchequer in the last fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, according to a recent Dawn report. To put this in perspective, this amount is 11 times the federal government’s Rs59.7bn budget for higher education last year. This comparison starkly highlights the depth of the structural problems afflicting Pakistan’s power sector. The inefficiencies of electricity supply companies are draining national resources, leaving little fiscal space for the government to invest in the economic welfare of Pakistan’s 241 million citizens. While the power sector reforms are underway, even the most optimistic policymakers acknowledge that eliminating these losses is unlikely in the near future.