IMF shares update on power tariff relief for Pakistan consumers

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday shared update on power tariff relief for consumers in Pakistan following, staff-level agreement with Islamabad to unlock $1.3bln loan tranche.

As per details, Pakistan’s IMF Mission Representative, Maher Bennisy during informal media talk, said the fund has approved for a reduction of Rs1 per unit in electricity tariffs for all consumers in Pakistan.

Bennisy stated that the relief will be financed through revenue generated from levies imposed on gas consumption by captive power plants.

He further revealed that the government is actively working on a broader electricity relief package, which will be announced after formal IMF approval.

It is to be noted that PM Shehbaz Sharif earlier announced to provide relief to the power consumers in Pakistan.

On March 26, Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement on the first review under Pakistan’s 37-month $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and on a new 28-month $1.3bn arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), the federal government and the IMF confirmed.

“The IMF team has reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) with the Pakistani authorities on the first review of the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and on a new 28-month arrangement under the IMF’s RSF with total access over the 28 months of around $1.3 billion (SDR 1 billion). The staff-level agreement is subject to approval of the IMF’s Executive Board. Upon approval, Pakistan will have access to about US$1.0 billion (SDR 760 million) under the EFF, bringing total disbursements under the program to about US$2.0 billion,” the IMF said in a statement.