IMF Rejects Pakistan’s Plan to Offer Cheaper Power to Industries

IMF Rejects Pakistan’s Plan to Offer Cheaper Power to Industries

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) objected to the energy ministry’s proposal to provide 8,000 megawatt surplus electricity at a cheaper rate to industries.

The officials of the energy ministry failed to convince the IMF on the marginal energy package, sources said.

In the next round of the economic review talks, a revised package of new proposals will be discussed with the IMF delegation, sources said.

The energy ministry had proposed a 3-year package intended for AI, data mining, and industrial sectors, based on marginal cost, according to sources.

“It was suggested to reduce taxes on per per-unit rate of electricity for consumption of the surplus electricity,” sources said. “Only production cost and capacity charges would have been imposed on consumption of surplus electricity, while other charges including all taxes were proposed to be exempted,” sources said.

The IMF rejected the package due to the energy ministry’s inability to recover 100 percent dues, sources said. “The monetary fund has linked approval of the marginal package with 100 percent recovery,” ministry sources added.