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Express Tribune
21 hours ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Fixed gas charges jacked up by 50%
Listen to article The government on Friday increased the fixed charges on gas bills by 50% and also jacked up gas tariffs for non-residential consumers but deferred a decision on import of up to 500,000 metric tons of sugar due to a disagreement over huge subsidies. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, which took the decisions, also approved Rs2.6 trillion in supplementary grants for repayments of the domestic and foreign debts in the current fiscal year, ending on Monday. The ECC's meeting, which was held just three days before the start of the new fiscal year, underscores challenges that the Finance Ministry will keep facing in the new fiscal year 2025-26 due to competing demands for unallocated subsidies. "The ECC proposed adjustments in energy sector tariffs and decided to maintain gas prices to protect household consumers with only fixed charges re-adjusted in the domestic sector to recover the asset costs", according to a statement issued by the Finance Ministry after the ECC meeting. It added that the ECC allowed the price of gas for bulk consumers, power plants operating on natural gas and industry to be increased by an average value of around 10%. However, where the ECC did not change gas prices for residential consumers it significantly increased the fixed charges on the residential consumers by 50%. For the protected category of domestic consumers the fixed charges were increased by Rs200 to Rs600. In the non-protected category, for monthly consumption of up to 1.5 hm3, the fixed charges were increased from Rs1,000 to Rs1,500. Likewise, the fixed charges for consumption of over 2 hm3 were increased from Rs2,000 to Rs3,000. The prices were changed to meet a condition of the International Monetary Fund to biannually adjust the gas prices. The Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority last month determined the Estimated Revenue Requirements (ERR) for FY 2025-26 for both SNGPL and SSGCL. According to the determinations, SNGPL requires revenues of Rs534.5 billion and SSGCL requires revenues of Rs354.2 billion to sail through the FY 2025-26 respectively. The cumulative revenue requirements of both the Sui companies are Rs888.6 billion for the FY 2025-26. The law mandates the federal government to ensure that the consumer gas sale prices should not be less than the revenue requirement determined by the Authority. At the current notified consumer gas sale prices effective February 01, 2025 the estimated revenues of both Sui companies by end FY 2025-26 are Rs847.714 billion. The ECC approved to increase the gas prices for bulk consumers by 9% to Rs3160 per mmbtu. It jacked up the rates for power plants by 17% to Rs1230 and 7% for the industrial gas connections to Rs2300 per mmbtu. Some of the members of the ECC criticized giving guaranteed 24% return on assets to Sui companies, which discourage efforts to improve efficiency by reducing line losses. Sugar Import The ECC could not take a decision on a proposal of up to 500,000 sugar imports to meet the local shortage in future, caused by the export of 765,000 metric tons sugar by the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The ECC was told that inclusive of all taxes and duties, the imported sugar would cost Rs245 per kg, which is even higher than Rs190 local price. A member of the ECC said that the government has to give Rs85 per kg subsidy, which would require Rs42.5 billion supplementary grant in the next fiscal year. However, during the meeting the Secretary Finance said that he would neither provide subsidies nor he would seek the permission of the IMF for allowing such subsidies or waive off the taxes and duties at the import stage. Without duty and taxes, the import price at the port is Rs153 per kg. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar led committee has determined the need for the import of 750,000 metric tons of sugar due to anticipated shortages in the month of October and onwards. The ECC members urged to free the sugar market and maintain only strategic reserves of about 500,000 metric tons. An official handout of the Finance Ministry stated that the ECC considered a proposal brought on by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for import of sugar to stabilize the sugar prices. The ECC approved the proposal of the Ministry for constitution of a 10-member steering committee led by Federal Minister for MNFSR and including Federal Minister for Commerce, SAPM to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary Finance Division, Chairman FBR and others to come back to the ECC with their recommendations on the matter, it added. Banks' subsidies The Finance Ministry stated that the ECC also discussed a summary by the Finance Division regarding changes in the home remittances incentive schemes. It said that the ECC tasked the State Bank of Pakistan and the Finance Division to propose and present a proper plan by 31st July to ECC, ensuring impact analysis and a roadmap for a properly-managed transition. The ECC was informed that the banks have demanded Rs200 billion claims on account of subsidies under the Pakistan Remittances Initiatives. The Finance Ministry has already discontinued the subsidy for the next fiscal year. The central bank representative told the ECC that the SBP cannot give any subsidy due to restrictions imposed by the IMF. Some of the members of the ECC objected to giving up to Rs6 per dollar subsidy, which was not benefiting the remitters and instead the money was going in the pockets of the commercial banks and the exchange companies. They urged instead to facilitate the manufacturing sector. Other decisions The ECC approved another Rs15.8 billion supplementary grant for the Ministry of Defence to cover the shortfall in admissible pay and allowances, in employees-related and non-employees related expenditures and clear the outstanding dues as part of the PM's Package for the martyrs of the recent Pak-India war. It approved another Rs5.5 billion supplementary grant for Strategic Plans Divisions as rupee cover for Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) during CFY 2024-25. The Cabinet body also considered a summary by the Finance Division for the launch of a risk coverage scheme for small farmers and under-served areas, and accorded in-principle approval to the proposal with instructions for further fine-tuning and incorporating in it additional safeguards before its planned launch on 14th August 2025. The ECC was told that the scheme would likely bring 750,000 new agricultural borrowers into the formal financial system and generate an incremental credit portfolio of Rs300 billion during its disbursement tenure of 3 years from FY 26 to FY 28. The budgetary requirement for meeting risk coverage and operational cost of the banks is estimated to be Rs37.5 billion, spread over five years.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Burglars strike at 5 houses, flee with booty worth over Rs14 lakh
1 2 3 Pune: Burglars struck at five separate houses in different parts of the city between June 25 and 26, and decamped with gold jewellery and cash, collectively worth over Rs14 lakh. Separate cases were registered with the Samarth, Swargate, Market Yard, Chandannagar, Nanded City and Phursungi police stations on Thursday. The Pune crime branch collected the CCTV footage from all the crime scenes to check if the same gang of burglars was involved in the thefts. A 63-year-old woman from Nana Peth on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Samarth police stating that some men on Wednesday (June 25) evening broke into her house. They allegedly stole gold jewellery and cash, collectively worth Rs4.58 lakh, from four cupboards in her bedroom. You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune In another burglary, a few men entered a 59-year-old Phursungi resident's bungalow by breaking the locks of a balcony door and made off with cash, gold and silver jewellery, collectively worth Rs 4.77 lakh. The burglary happened in the early hours of Thursday, the Phursungi police said. Some men broke into the house of a 76-year-old resident of Wadgaonsheri on Thursday evening when she went out. They stole gold jewellery and cash, collectively worth Rs2.6 lakh. When the woman returned home after an hour, she found her house had been burgled. She later lodged a complaint with the Chandannagar police. In another house break-in, burglars broke into a flat in a housing society near Gangadham Chowk in the early hours of Thursday and made off with gold jewellery worth Rs1.85 lakh. Burglars entered a house in Dhayari early on Thursday morning by cutting its tin shade and stole two mobile handsets worth Rs40,000, the Nanded City police said.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Pindi uplift plan okayed
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has given in-principle approval to the Rawalpindi Development Plan, prioritising upgrades to the city's water supply and sewerage systems. The Water and Sanitation Agency's (WASA) managing director has been instructed to immediately prepare PC-1s for all proposed schemes. This directive was issued during a joint meeting on Monday, chaired by the Punjab Secretary for Urban Development and Public Health Engineering, Noorul Amin Mengal. Officials from the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), WASA, Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), and Public Health Engineering attended the session. The secretary emphasised the need for swift monsoon preparations and urged the early completion of the feasibility study for sourcing water from Daducha Dam to ensure a sustainable supply for Rawalpindi. He proposed building ground storage tanks in parks, following the Lahore model, to store rainwater for horticultural use, stressing that "every drop of water must be saved." The secretary housing praised WASA for exceeding its revenue recovery target, collecting Rs2.6 billion against the assigned Rs2.3 billion, and called for an even higher target in the upcoming fiscal year. WASA Managing Director, Muhammad Saleem Ashraf, shared that a comprehensive monsoon plan is already in place, including the expedited cleaning of 15 city drains and Nullah Leh. Staff training and sewer line maintenance have been completed, and five monsoon camps will be operational, backed by a central control room at WASA Headquarters. To ensure an uninterrupted water supply during summer, 20 new tube wells are being installed, and additional intake from Rawal and Khanpur dams has been secured. Ongoing dam projects will soon add 12 MGD from Chahan Dam, 5 MGD from Rawal Dam, and 8 MGD from Khanpur Dam. The feasibility for the Daducha Dam, expected to provide 35 MGD, is set to conclude within two months. During the meeting, the RDA director general gave progress updates on major projects, including the Ring Road and Nullah Leh schemes, which were highlighted for timely and transparent completion. PHA Director General, Ahmad Hassan Ranjha, also briefed the participants on citywide park beautification efforts.
Express Tribune
07-06-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Govt walks a tight rope
FDI in various sectors, including power, oil and gas exploration, financial, and petroleum refinery sectors, witnessed a 6.4-fold increase, reaching $211 million in December 2023 compared to $33 million last year. photo: afp Listen to article The government will walk a tight fiscal rope in the next fiscal year, too, as it plans to unveil the second budget on Tuesday envisaging a federal budget deficit of Rs6.2 trillion or 4.8% of size of the economy. The total size of the budget is expected to be around Rs17.6 trillion, which is 7.3% less than this year's original budget due to relatively lower allocations for the interest payments in fiscal year 2025-26, according to the Finance Ministry's budget estimates. The government sources said that the proposed budget deficit is 2% of the GDP or Rs2.3 trillion less than the original estimates of this fiscal year. The deficit may still be appearing large in absolute terms. But it is, for the first time, lower than this year's gap, both in terms of size of the economy and in absolute numbers. The tight budget envisages fiscal consolidation of 2% of GDP, as the government is planning to set the budget deficit target at 4.8% of GDP, the sources said. This will be 2% of GDP or Rs2.6 trillion lower than this fiscal year's target. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will deliver his second budget speech on June 10. The expenditure path is known to be narrower and predicted. However, it seems that the government may again adopt the business as usual approach on the revenue front, which is unsustainable and puts the country's marginalized salaried class and corporate sector at risk of being insolvent. The fiscal consolidation is the need of the hour but it will drastically reduce the government's ability to spend due to no space left for any productive spending after making payments for the interest servicing and defense. However, whatever space is left is not prudently used and the sources said that the quality of spending becomes poorer with large allocations for provincial projects, discretionary spending on the schemes recommended by the Parliamentarians at the expense of space technology and atomic energy programmes. The sources said that the fiscal consolidation is again planned to be achieved by putting more burden on the people, directly as well as indirectly. The government is projecting gross federal revenues at record Rs19.4 trillion for next fiscal year, higher by Rs1.6 trillion. The gross revenues are based on the Federal Board of Revenue's tax target of Rs14.13 trillion and Rs5.2 trillion non-tax revenues. The non-tax income will mainly come from the Petroleum Levy, which the government wants to increases to nearly Rs100 per liter, and the profit by the State Bank of Pakistan. The sources said that like this fiscal year, the FBR may remain the weak area in the next fiscal year, too, despite the required growth to achieve the goal will be far lower than this year. The new tax collection target will become challenging from first day of next fiscal year because the FBR will not be able to achieve even the downward revised target of Rs12.3 trillion, said the sources. This will erode the base of new tax target. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tried everything to put the FBR house in order but all those measures backfired. The FBR's ability to predict revenue estimates is also not up to the mark and this year the World Bank experts helped in projecting numbers, said the sources. Out of the Rs14.1 trillion FBR tax collection, the provinces will get Rs8 trillion as their shares in the federal taxes under the National Finance Commission award, the sources added. This leaves the federal government with Rs11.4 trillion net revenues for next fiscal year, which will not be sufficient to meet the interest payments and inclusive all defense spending, according to the government sources. The government will borrow Rs6.2 trillion in the next fiscal year to finance the Rs17.6 trillion total federal budget. Under the IMF programme, the four provinces are also required to save Rs1.33 trillion from their revenues as cash surplus to bring down the national budget deficit to Rs4.8 trillion or 3.7% of GDP, the sources said. This is steeper fiscal consolidation and would require all the five governments to meet all their revenue and expenditures related targets. The four provinces have indicated nearly Rs2.9 trillion for their development spending in the next fiscal year. This is Rs850 billion more than what the IMF has allowed to spend to the four provinces under the national fiscal framework. Punjab has indicated Rs1.2 trillion record spending on development, followed by Rs995 billion by Sindh.
India Gazette
22-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
TN: Sri Lankan Navy allegedly harasses Nagapattinam fishermen in mid-sea
Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 22 (ANI): Fishermen from Seruthur village in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu have alleged that they have been harassed by the Sri Lankan Navy personnel when they were fishing southeast of Kodiakkarai in a fibre boat. During the incident, Sri Lankan Navy personnel reportedly rammed their vessel into the Indian fishing boat and seized fishing nets worth Rs2.6 lakh, a GPS device, a walkie-talkie, and other equipment. The fishermen alleged that the Sri Lankan naval patrol ship also cut their fishing nets, seized the fuel from their boat, and engaged in a clear act of harassment. Fishermen Shanmugam, Jayaraman, Sakthimayil, and Manimar, who lost their fishing gear and equipment, have since returned to the shore in fear. Tamil Nadu fishermen getting arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy is a recurring instance, for which the State leadership has sought a permanent solution from the Centre, even by retrieving Katchatheevu island, located in Palk Bay, from Sri Lanka. In April this year, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution, urging the Union government to take steps to retrieve the Katchatheevu island. The resolution moved by Chief Minister MK Stalin said, 'Retrieval of Katchatheevu island is the only permanent solution to protect the traditional fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen and to mitigate the sufferings faced by them due to the Sri Lankan Navy.' On March 27 this year, the Sri Lankan Navy apprehended 11 Tamil Nadu fishermen and took them to Kangesanthurai Naval camp for investigation, officials said. Earlier on March 20, 13 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing outside the approved boundaries returned home to India after being handed over by the Indian Embassy in Colombo. The group of fishermen were arrested on February 26 and was produced in Mallakam court in Sri Lanka, kept imprisoned for nearly a month. Additionally, three fishermen were also admitted to a government hospital in Sri Lanka due to sustaining injuries. The Sri Lankan court reportedly released 13 fishermen on March 12 after talks between the two sides. On February 23, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin expressed concern over the increase in the capture of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, urging the Centre to convene a Joint Working Group (JWG) to find a permanent solution to the issue. (ANI)
