ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reportedly asked government to increase electricity tariff up to 7.50 rupees per unit across the board to recover over Rs700 billion from consumers as previous commitments made by the government were not met, Business Recorder reported on Thursday.
An increase of Rs7.91 per unit was agreed with the Fund and World Bank for last fiscal year but it was only partially implemented till July 1, 2022. Moreover, it had been promised to the IMF that FPA and QTAs would be implemented on time and passed on to consumers.
Despite promises to the IMF that recovery would reach 93.83 percent, it only reached less than 90 percent (FY-22 at 90.43 percent). Transmission and distribution losses exceeded 17% (FY-22 at 22.16%) compared to the 15.83% agreement set with the IMF and World Bank.
Electricity demand remained depressed at 44 billion units during first quarter of current fiscal year (FY-22 at 44.4 percent) whereas IMF had been given the understanding of 45 billion units.
IMF had also been given assurance that exchange rate for last fiscal year would be Rs 194/$ which remained at over Rs 200/$. Likewise, the Fund had been given words that KIBOR would be 10.5 percent while in fact it remained at 15 percent.
