The government has decided to eliminate the concept of ‘capacity payments’ for small hydropower projects, aiming to reduce the financial burden on power consumers. Currently, consumers are shouldering 70% of electricity costs due to these payments made to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), totalling around Rs2.2 trillion annually to those not producing a single unit of electricity. During d
The federal government has prepared a framework for the division of assets and liabilities of the national flag carrier—the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)— as part of its privatisation process. According to official documents seen by The Express Tribune, the airline’s assets and liabilities have been divided between the PIA and a holding company. The government has disclosed that the
When the whole economic revival and transformation narrative is dependent upon increasing prices of utilities, interest rates, erratic tax collection measures, unrealistic plans for enhancing exports, shifting blames to lenders and debt servicing, ignoring ground realities and the plea of agriculture and manufacturing sectors, then it is evident that it is not happening. This is neither economi
On January 16, 2023, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sat down with the Dubai-based television channel, Al Arabiya and, among other issues, spoke about Pakistan’s relations with India. Sharif stated, “It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources…My message to…Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that let us sit down…and have serious and sincer
Historically, Pakistan has had a dismal saving rate — well below its regional peers. This, however, does not necessarily signify a low propensity to save. Many Pakistanis, especially women, use an age-old, informal saving mechanism known as a “committee”, whereby a group of people pool money each month and the entirety of it goes to one of the participants. The process recurs every month until