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Wednesday, 4 January, 2023 I 11 Jamadi us Sani, 1444

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Cabinet approves early Markets Closure under energy-saving plan g

Kh Asif sAys mArKets to shut At 8:30pm, wedding hAlls At 10pm

ISLAMABAD

Saleem jadoon

he federal cabinet, with prime minister shehbaz sharif in the chair, on tuesday approved the enforcement of energy conservation plan with immediate effect. sharing salient features of the energy conservation plan at a news conference in islamabad along with other cabinet members, minister for defence Khawaja

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Asif said under the plan, the markets will close down by 8.30pm and restaurants and wedding halls by 10pm. he claimed the cabinet-approved measures are expected to save the country about rs62 billion ($273m). the defence minister said the production of inefficient electricity fans will be stopped from the first of July. he said additional duty will be levied on the inefficient electric fans which will help save rs15 billion. Khawaja Asif said that a cam-

paign will be launched on the print, electronic and social media to create awareness amongst the people about the energy conservation plan. he said pakistan’s peak summer electricity usage was 29,000 megawatts (mw) compared with 12,000 mw in the winter, mainly due to the use of fans in hotter weather. the defence minister said water rates will be reviewed in order to ensure the conservation of water. he said building control authorities will bring necessary reforms in by-laws of housing societies to ensure efficient use of water. Khawaja Asif informed that prime minister shehbaz sharif during the cabinet meeting directed to reduce the usage of electricity in all federal departments by thirty percent. he said the prime minister also directed to avoid unnecessary use of electric appliances in all the offices. half of the street lights across the country will also remain switched off, the minister said. the federal cabinet also approved reduction of maximum retail price of twenty medicines to provide relief to the common man. Khawaja Asif said the fBr has been directed to publish a separate tax directory of the parliamentarians.

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ECC approves Rs60b for PSO to help clear financial obligations g

meeting discusses pAKistAni hospitAls in AfghAnistAn, Addresses concerns over proposed sugAr export ISLAMABAD Shahzad Paracha

A meeting of the economic coordination committee (ecc) of the federal cabinet among other decisions has approved the release of rs 60 billion in financing for pakistan state oil (pso) to be able to meet its financial obligations. of this, rs 10 billion is a budgered subsidy while rs 50 billion is a guarantee from the government of pakistan against bank financing, meaning the vast majority of this money will be sourced from commercial banks. the ecc meeting also discussed the status of three pakistani hospitals in Afghanistan, and the issue of sugar exports. chaired by finance minister ishaq dar, the meeting took under consideration a summary tabled by the petroleum division on the liquidity requirements of pso. late last year, pso’s financial results had raised serious alarms about the oil company’s liquidity problem. for the three month period ending in september 2022, the company recorded a net loss of rs 11.4 billion in its cash and cash equivalents, whereas for the same period last year the company recorded cash inflows of rs 41 billion. this sums up

to a decline of almost 127%. As the national oil company, pso is responsible for importing the bulk of pakistan’s petroleum products, ranging from liquified natural and crude oil to finished products like motor gas (mogas) and high speed diesel (hsd). in its summary, the petroleum division had raised concerns about pso’s ability to import lng and petroleum products in the country. sources said that the petroleum division has proposed ecc to release rs 18 billion available under the head of “subsidy to domestic consumers through sngpl (rlng) in one go to sngpl against its outstanding claims of lng diversion of rs 109 billion. similarly, it has also asked to provide rs 100 billion as supplementary grant under the head of “subsidy to domestic consumers through sngpl (rlng) for meeting sngpl accumulated and anticipated lng diversion cost to domestic consumers. sources said that the high ups of petroleum division asked the ecc to approve the above mentioned proposals in order to enable pso to remain afloat in its payment obligations to lng suppliers as well as to avoid threat towards breakdown of lng supply chain.

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