ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has requested that the government raise electricity prices nationwide to a maximum of 7.50 rupees per unit in order to recover more than Rs700 billion from consumers after the government failed to meet previous commitments, according to Business Recorder on Thursday.
A raise of Rs 7.91 per unit was agreed upon with the Fund and World Bank for the preceding fiscal year; however, it was only partially implemented until July 1, 2022. Furthermore, the IMF was promised that the FPA and QTAs would be implemented on schedule and transferred to consumers.
Although the IMF was assured that the recovery rate would be 93.83 percent, it was really less than 90 percent (FY-22 at 90.43 percent). Over 17% of transmission and distribution losses were documented (FY-22 at 22.16%), above the 15.83% level agreed upon with the IMF and World Bank.
While the IMF was told that power consumption would be 45 billion units, it remained low throughout the first quarter of the current fiscal year, at 44 billion units (FY-22 at 44.4 percent).
Furthermore, the IMF was assured that the currency rate for the preceding fiscal year would be Rs 194/$, but it ended up being more than Rs 200/$. Similarly, the Fund was told that KIBOR would be 10.5 percent, but it was actually 15 percent.
