Pakistan to keep energy subsidies unchanged against IMF advice

News Image

By MG News | May 01, 2022 at 02:55 PM GMT+05:00

0:00

May 01, 2022: Pakistan said on Saturday it would maintain subsidies to keep fuel and power prices steady for consumers, going against International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations as the country seeks to boost its rescue package with the fund.

The IMF said on Monday that Pakistan had agreed to roll back unfunded subsidies to the oil and power sectors ahead of the resumption next month of a review of the $6 billion package signed in July 2019.

But Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected a proposal to raise the prices of petroleum products "so as not to burden the consumers", a finance ministry statement said.

The prices are reviewed every two weeks.

Pakistan is set to give more than $2 billion in subsidies to the oil and power sectors from April to June, which was announced by ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan in his last days in power.

Fuel and electricity prices have been the subject of public pressure amid double-digit inflation.

An IMF mission is due to arrive in Pakistan in May to resume discussions over policies for completing the seventh review of the country's Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which Islamabad has asked the IMF to increase the size and duration of.

If the IMF review is cleared, Pakistan will get more than $900 million, which would in turn unlock additional external funding.

The South Asian nation is in dire need of external finances due to a widening current account deficit and foreign reserves falling as low as $10.5 billion, equivalent to less than two months of imports.

Reuters

Related News

Name Price/Vol %Chg/NChg
KSE100 132,729.06
100.38M
-0.51%
-674.13
ALLSHR 83,027.42
560.76M
-0.19%
-160.63
KSE30 40,391.59
35.87M
-0.64%
-259.87
KMI30 191,052.41
40.43M
-0.54%
-1031.51
KMIALLSHR 55,738.38
285.79M
-0.20%
-109.32
BKTi 36,219.30
6.35M
-0.56%
-203.57
OGTi 28,277.62
7.33M
-0.56%
-159.99
Symbol Bid/Ask High/Low
Name Last High/Low Chg/%Chg
BITCOIN FUTURES 109,215.00 109,545.00
108,625.00
0.00
0.00%
BRENT CRUDE 70.11 70.15
69.85
-0.04
-0.06%
RICHARDS BAY COAL MONTHLY 97.50 0.00
0.00
2.05
2.15%
ROTTERDAM COAL MONTHLY 106.65 106.65
106.25
0.50
0.47%
USD RBD PALM OLEIN 998.50 998.50
998.50
0.00
0.00%
CRUDE OIL - WTI 68.27 68.31
67.78
-0.06
-0.09%
SUGAR #11 WORLD 16.15 16.37
16.10
-0.13
-0.80%

Chart of the Day


Latest News

Top 5 things to watch in this week

Pakistan Stock Movers
Name Last Chg/%Chg
Name Last Chg/%Chg