In an effort to ease the burden on consumers who are paying excessive electricity bills, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif unveiled a “major” relief package on Thursday that will lower power costs nationwide by Rs7.41 per unit.
Speaking at a function in Islamabad, the premier praised the country and said that his staff had worked very hard to persuade the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to make the cut.
He announced a Rs7.59 reduction in electricity prices for industries.
The PM also emphasized his will to address the Rs600 billion embezzlement and stressed the need for structural reforms in the power sector.
“We have to eradicate it completely, even though work on it has already begun,” he stated. “There is unhealthy competition if one shopkeeper pays the electricity bill honestly and the shopkeeper next to him doesn’t.”
Without giving any information on the announcement, the government stated on its official X account on Wednesday that “great news for the entire nation” would be revealed today. In reference to Eidul Fitr, the post included the hashtag “Small Eid, Big Gift.”
In his speech to the country on March 23, the prime minister was expected to announce a drop in electricity costs of Rs8 per unit, according to numerous reports last month. In his statement on Pakistan Day, the prime minister did not, however, mention any such relief plan.
Rather, he chaired a meeting on the power sector due to a last-minute glitch when the Fund was unable to approve a significant cut in electricity rates. A reduction in electricity rates would “be announced soon,” the premier reaffirmed.
It should be mentioned that the government promised to pass the financial impact on to electricity users by keeping gasoline prices at their current level rather than lowering them by up to Rs13 per liter, as the oil regulator and petroleum division had proposed.
PM Shehbaz would present the people with a “large gift from the federal government,” according to the ruling PML-N.
The premier’s assistant, Rana Sanaullah, claimed on X that the much awaited aid package will “thwart Pakistan’s default plot.”
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