Govt stymied by IMF agreement, unable to extend electricity bill relief
Business
No relief can be extended to consumers on electricity bills without IMF consent: sources
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not been taken into confidence on the possible relief in electricity bills, sources in the finance ministry say.
According to sources, no relief can be extended to the consumers on the electricity bills without the consent of the IMF. It will be a sheer violation of the IMF agreement.
Sources said an agreement had been reached with the IMF for quarterly adjustments and taxation, according to which quarterly adjustments could not extend relief in electricity bills to the consumers.
Till December the quarterly adjustments will cost Rs4.37 more per unit. Around Rs122 billion will be received as quarterly adjustment in this regard.
The sources said it was necessary to take the IMF into confidence on the decision of relief in electricity rates.
They said the decision to issue sukuk bonds would be taken after the completion of the IMF economic review and the plan to issue international sukuk bonds in September had been postponed.
They further informed that during the current fiscal year, bonds worth $2 billion would be issued in this context.
The second economic review with the IMF will begin at the end of September, after the completion of the economic review. The issuance of sukuk bond can get good value and the issuance of bond in November can improve Pakistan's rating, the sources said.
