The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not agreed to subsidize electricity bills.
According to sources in the Ministry of Finance, the IMF is of the opinion that the central and provincial governments are not authorized to give subsidy on electricity bills, while the IMF has also objected to giving subsidy on electricity bills by Punjab.
Sources say that according to the IMF, the approval of the loan program may be jeopardized by the subsidy on electricity bills.
According to the sources, the IMF strongly objected to the subsidy on electricity bills by the provinces and said that under the agreement with Pakistan, subsidy cannot be given on electricity and gas bills, there is no scope for subsidy in these sectors.
According to sources, the IMF has also demanded withdrawal of subsidy by September.
Sources said that in this regard, the Ministry of Finance has written a letter and instructed the provincial governments not to subsidize electricity bills, in which it has been said that according to the IMF, the funds allocated for the development program are not allocated for subsidy on electricity bills.
The Ministry of Finance has said to avoid giving any kind of untargeted subsidy and no decision should be taken which could jeopardize the agreement.
Sources say that in the staff level agreement with the IMF, the provinces had also assured that after that the provinces also have to stick to this agreement so that the IMF program can be approved.
It should be noted that the Punjab government had given a big relief of 14 rupees to the consumers consuming 200 to 500 units of electricity for 2 months, after which the Sindh government had also handed over the plan to make electricity cheaper to the federal government.
