ISLAMABAD : Feb 12,2023: The federal cabinet has approved a power adjustment plan which focuses on withdrawal of subsidy granted to different sectors in recent past , besides revising upwards electricity tariff .
Under the revised power adjustment plan , the government will phase out subsidy granted to export related industries and agriculture secor.
The government will increase the power tariff by Rs 7 per unit for domestic sector in three phases by end of current fiscal year . The government will raise Rs 250 billion from these adjustments and withdrawal of subsidies.
The Shahbaz government had granted subsidy to export related industries and agriculture sector a few months ago, costing Rs 250 billion to the national kitty. Withdrawal of subsidy of agriculture sector will save Rs 14 billion and with drawal of subsidy of exports sector will save Rs 51 billion . The government will also impose surcharge on electricity to meet the revenue collection target to secure an early release of tranche by IMF.
Pakistan’s various key sectors like export industries , agriculture and many others enjoy subsidy of hundreds of billions of rupee every year without paying any contribution to the national economy .
The poor of this country pay for subsidies enjoyed by exports sector , agriculture and a few other sectors .
Now in order to meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions , the government has withdrawn subsidies from a few sectors , but still many privileged segments of the society like power companies’ employees and other elite segments are enjoying huge subsidies
An IMF team had put these conditions for Pakistan to get restored a $ 7 billion facility.