Islamabad: It seems that higher electricity and gas prices will not give the people any respite as Interim Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar has said that the caretaker government will increase prices The utilities reported Friday, The News, to reduce the circular debt problem in January.
Addressing a press conference in the Q-Block on Thursday, The federal minister said that under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Standby Arrangement (SBA), the government has reduced cost and efficiency in the energy sector Agreed to restore.
“ Circular debt of electricity and gas sectors has exceeded 4% of GDP. Urgent action is needed to bring it down. He added that we have started work in this regard and electricity and gas rates have been adjusted accordingly.
Sharing more details about your conversation with the IMF, The finance minister said he had informed the global lender of his intention to review tariffs in the energy sector and impose additional taxes on various sectors, including real estate and retailers What is it. However, he clarified that no final decision has been made yet.
“Pakistan needs a new short-term IMF program because the country cannot function without it given weak economic stability. He added that after the end of the SBA, Islamabad would have to go for another medium-term program which would probably be under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
On the question of external financial differences، Finance Secretary Aid Bossel was hopeful that a successful review of the IMF would open up multilateral lenders’ programs and project loans, including the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). He hoped that the reduction in the current account deficit would reduce the need for external financing.
“ There is no difference on the external financing front as the processing of program loans from WB and ADB as well as co-financing from AIIB was in modern stages and now approved it In December this year, ” added.
The secretary added that Islamabad was expecting an improvement in Pakistan’s rating after the review, which would allow the government to raise the required dollar in the form of foreign loans I will help.
The Finance Minister said that the distribution of $ 2 billion loans from the World Bank during the current financial year is expected. He said that foreign exchange reserves would be constructed next month after the approval of $ 700 million installment by IMF, Therefore the total distribution under SBA will go up to $ 1.9 billion out of $ 3 billion.
Dr. Akhtar said that the IMF Executive Board is expected to approve the second installment within a month.
‘Ghaban government is building market confidence’
Meanwhile, addressing The Future Summit in Karachi، Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said that the caretaker government has taken many active steps to stabilize the economy and increase market confidence.
He added that the focus of government stabilization efforts is the $ 3 billion SBA program, which has been approved, leading to an initial distribution of $ 1.2 billion through the IMF Happened.
Talking about the Special Investment Facility Council (SIFC)، The finance czar said a transaction pipeline had been set up to accelerate investment in key infrastructure, adding projects such as the TAG1> 10 billion Saudi Aramco refinery.
He added that the “ The transaction pipeline also includes leasing 85,000 acres of agricultural corporate farms to potential foreign investors.
Regarding the structural weaknesses of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and budget cuts, he said that the caretaker government is focused on activating the Centralized Monitoring Unit (CMU), Which will oversee SOEs and publish regular reports on financial performance and emergency responsibilities.
“ We are in the process of finalizing the SOE policy under the SOE law as agreed with the IMF۔ The focus of the policy is on improving the governance and financial performance of deficit SOEs, he said.
