Pakistan shares power relief plan with IMF

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has shared its plan with the IMF for providing relief to power consumers on account of inflated electricity bills, with assurances that none of the Fund’s agreed targets would be breached.

Caretaker Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar said on Wednesday that the Pakistani team held talks with the IMF; she did not interact with them directly but told the Fund they were committed to continuing with the IMF programme.

Insiders in the Ministry of Finance said there was a provision for an emergency allocation of Rs250 billion in the budget for 2023-24, which could be utilised to provide relief to power consumers.

It might take some more time to convince the IMF on the proposed relief package, which might be restricted to those using up to 400 units. Staggering of billing would also be done while some protected consumers’ bills might be reduced with the allocation of funds for the purpose of emergency allocation of Rs250 billion, allocated in the budget for 2023-24. “But this amount will only be utilised for users of up to 400-unit slabs, with the permission of IMF,” said top official sources while talking to The News on Wednesday.

When contacted, a top official involved in parleys with the IMF told The News that they would not breach the IMF’s envisaged targets on account of power subsidy, fixed target of accumulation in the circular debt as well as the primary surplus of 0.4 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal year.

The official conceded that they did not share the plan with the IMF in writing which, according to economic experts, might result in further delaying the proposed relief package for power consumers.