KARACHI: Pakistan is renegotiating contracts with independent power producers to rein in “unsustainable” electricity tariffs, the head of the power ministry said, as households and businesses buckle under soaring energy costs.
Rising power tariffs have stirred social unrest and shuttered industries in the $350 billion economy, which has contracted twice in recent years as inflation hit record highs.
“The existing price structure of power in this country is not sustainable,” Awais Leghari, a federal minister heading Pakistan’s Power Division, told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
He said discussions were under way between power producers and the government because “there is a clear understanding on both sides that the status quo can’t be maintained.”
Leghari stressed that all stakeholders would have to “give in to a certain point” — though without compromising completely on business sustainability — and this would have to be done “as soon as possible.”
Faced with chronic shortages a decade ago, Pakistan approved dozens of private projects by independent power producers (IPPs), financed mostly by foreign lenders. The incentivized deals included high guaranteed returns and commitments to even pay for unused power.
However, a sustained economic crisis has slashed power consumption, leaving the country with excess capacity that it needs to pay for.
Short of funds, the government has built those fixed costs and capacity payments into consumer bills, sparking protests by domestic users and industrial associations.
Four sources in the power sector told Reuters changes to contracts demanded included slashing guaranteed returns, capping dollar rates and moving away from paying for unused power. The sources requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
On Saturday, local media outlet Business Recorder said in a report citing sources that 24 conditions have been proposed for the transition of capacity-based model to take-and-pay model.
However, Leghari told Reuters that no new draft agreements or specific demands had been officially sent to power companies and said the government would not force them to sign new watered down contracts.
“We would sit and talk to them in a civil and professional manner,” he said, adding that the government has always maintained contractual obligations to investors, both foreign and local. He said contract revisions would be by “mutual consent.”
Energy sector viability was the focus of a critical staff level pact in May with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $7 billion bailout. The IMF’s staff report stressed the need to revisit power deals.
Pakistan has already initiated talks on reprofiling power sector debt owed to China as well as negotiations on structural reforms, but progress has been slow. Pakistan has also committed to stop power sector subsidies.
Leghari said current rates were not affordable for domestic or commercial consumers and this was hurting growth because power prices were no longer regionally competitive, putting critical exports at a disadvantage.
He said the aim was to bring tariffs down to 9 US cents per unit for commercial users from about 28 cents currently.
Pakistani minister says government renegotiating power deals to cut electricity tariffs
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Pakistani minister says government renegotiating power deals to cut electricity tariffs
- Energy sector viability has been the focus of a critical staff level pact with the IMF for a $7 billion bailout
- Awais Leghari says government wants to bring down tariffs from 28 cents to 9 cents for commercial users
Pakistani man to appear in US court on assassination plot charges
- Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot
- Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the US, prosecutors said
NEW YORK: A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran is set to appear in US court on Monday on charges of scheming to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot.
Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said.
The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani.
There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant faces one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire.
He is expected to enter a plea before US Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT). Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”
Pakistan says global commodities trader Gunvor Group ‘keen’ to invest in petroleum sector
- Last month, Gunvor Group signed an agreement to acquire 50 percent shares of Pakistan’s Total Parco oil marketing company
- PM Shehbaz Sharif informs Gunvor Group chairman of reforms undertaken to increase foreign investment in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Global commodities trader Gunvor Group has expressed its “keen” interest in investing in Pakistan’s petroleum sector, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Monday.
The statement came after Sharif’s meeting with Gunvor Group Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist and Total Energies Vice President Oceania & Southeast Asia Mehmet Celepoglu
During the meeting, the prime minister highlighted the rapid reforms that were underway to increase investment and business activities in Pakistan, according to PM Sharif’s office.
“Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist expressed the Gunvor Group’s keen interest in investment in the petroleum sector of Pakistan,” it said in a statement.
The prime minister was informed that the Gunvor Group had signed an agreement in August to acquire 50 percent shares of Total Parco Pakistan Limited, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total Energies.
A joint venture between Total Energies and Pak-Arab Refinery Limited in Pakistan, Total PARCO Pakistan Limited has a retail network of more than 800 service stations and is involved in fuel logistics and lubricants.
“The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to provide all possible facilities to the Gunvor Group,” Sharif’s office said.
Since avoiding a default last year, Islamabad has been making attempts to boost foreign investment and trade to drive economic growth in the South Asian country.
In recent months, Pakistan has reached multiple investment deals with a number of countries, mainly the Gulf states, in infrastructure, energy, maritime, ports and other sectors.
Pakistan reports sixth case of mpox virus in Islamabad
- Patient admitted to the isolation ward of Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
- Mpox is mild but people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complication
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities on Monday confirmed a sixth case of mpox virus in the federal capital of Islamabad, saying the patient was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital.
The Border Health Staff (BHS) detected mpox symptoms in a 44-year-old man during screening at the Islamabad International Airport, according to the federal health minister.
Since confirming its first mpox case last month, Pakistan has implemented stringent screening protocols at all airports and border crossings for the screening of travelers.
“The sixth case of mpox has been reported in Pakistan,” a health ministry spokesperson said in a statement. “The travel history of the 44-year-old man is from Gulf countries.”
Patients who contract mpox get flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Mpox is usually mild but can kill. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications from the infection.
On Sept. 8, health authorities declared Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province mpox-free after all four patients previously infected with the virus recovered.
Dr. Mukhtar Bharath, the prime minister’s coordinator for health, said the health ministry was working closely with provincial authorities to monitor new cases and around 630,000 passengers had so far been screened at airports.
“Effective measures are being taken to protect people from mpox,” Dr. Bharath said.
The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new mutated strain of mpox named clade I, which first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has since spread to several countries, leading to increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.
Sindh minister orders security for polio worker who says she was raped on duty
- The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while she was on duty
- But the woman later retracted her statement amid threats by her husband for being an ‘adulteress’
KARACHI: Provincial Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday took notice of alleged rape of a polio worker in the Jacobabad district of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and instructed police to provide her round-the-clock security.
The incident occurred in Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad. The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while on duty, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. A day later, the polio worker retracted her statement and said she was robbed, reportedly amid threats by her husband for being a ‘Kari,’ an adulteress, who deserves death.
The Sindh health minister has instructed police to provide security around the polio worker’s current residence and requested Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to provide the woman with monetary compensation to help her take care of her children.
“Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program,” Dr. Pechuho said. “I am taking every necessary action to ensure that she gets the justice she deserves.”
On Sept. 9, Pakistan launched a week-long, nationwide polio campaign amid a spike in militant attacks. The potentially fatal, paralyzing disease mostly strikes children under the age of five and typically spreads through contaminated water.
Two days later, a roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying officers assigned to protect health workers conducting polio immunization in the northwestern South Waziristan district, in the same province, wounding six officers and three civilians. The militant Daesh group later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio, jeopardizing decades of efforts to eliminate polio in the country. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in which the spread of polio has never been stopped.
Pakistan recorded 44% rise in workers remittances from July-August— state media
- Pakistan’s workers remittances have reached $5.94 billion dollars this fiscal year, says state media
- Credits country’s investment-friendly policies, government crackdown against smuggling of dollars for surge
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seen a “significant increase” in workers remittances at the beginning of the current fiscal year from July-August, state-run media reported on Monday, crediting the surge to the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s (SIFC) policies and the government’s crackdown on the smuggling of foreign currency.
Workers remittances form a cornerstone of Pakistan’s economy, significantly contributing to the country’s foreign exchange reserves and reducing the current account deficit. Remittances also play a major role in supporting Pakistan’s external account, especially at a time when the country is recording small gains after a prolonged economic crisis that diminished its foreign reserves and weakened its national currency.
“There has been a significant increase of forty-four percent in remittances at the beginning of the current fiscal year due to the support of the SIFC,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
“According to the statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan, remittances have reached 5.94 billion dollars with an increase of 1.81 billion dollars compared to 4.12 billion dollars in July-August last year.”
The SIFC was set up in July last year to serve as a “one window operation” to address any concerns of foreign investors, with a special focus on attracting funds from Gulf nations. The government has recently actively promoted the employment of Pakistanis abroad, especially in the Middle East, to ensure a steady increase in investments, crucial for the country’s economic growth.
The state broadcaster said that the government’s crackdown against illegal money transfer systems such as Hundi and the smuggling of dollars led to a stable exchange rate and increase in foreign reserves.
Pakistan’s government last year launched a crackdown against currency smugglers and hoarders when the cost of the US dollar soared, as people preferred informal banking channels to remit money to relatives in Pakistan.
