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Dar shocks gas consumers with big hikes

Honestly, Dar is a bastard, but I won’t condemn this move.

With local gas depleting, no new discoveries, importing gas, the price of which has increased considerably, (coupled with the fact that our risk management department is sleeping), this move was needed. Simple economics.

There are other factors such as a depreciating Rs that has caused this for which we can curse Dar.

I would suggest another 25% hike. If you want to get burnt, do it once and get it over with. Pakistani awaam will forget in day or two.
Kind of agree.

Hike it up so the cost of getting the gas to the consumer is covered. No discount for anyone - start with the biggest consumers first.

Only domestic consumers who are tax filers with income below xyz pkr should get an initial slab discounted.
 
63eab46b87098.gif

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Monday increased natural gas prices in the range of 16 per cent to 112.32pc with retrospective effect from Jan 1 for six months in a bid to raise an additional Rs310 billion from the majority of domestic and all other categories of consumers to secure early disbursement of $1.2 billion tranche.

The ECC meeting chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also introduced the concept of protected consumers for a period of four months —November to February — whose average per month consumption will be below 0.9 hm3 (90 units). Four slabs for protected and six slabs for non-protected consumers were also introduced.

The minimum slab for residential consumers before the increase was 50 units per month (0.5 hm3), which under the new price mechanism was reduced to 25 units. This means consumers with low consumption would be hit under the new price mechanism to collect maximum revenue from the bulk of domestic users.

A fixed rate of Rs50 per month from protected consumers and Rs500 from non-protected consumers will be collected in addition to the increase in gas prices. The fixed-rate collection, according to the government, is justified to reduce the impact of higher bills due to increased gas consumption in winter.



Former Prime Minister Shahid Haqqan Abbasi also attended the ECC meeting along with other regular ministers. Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Power Minister Khurram Dastgir and Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha among others attended the meeting.

The hike in gas tariff for industries, a major source of electricity generation, will push up the cost of production. The industrial sector will then pass on this increase to end-consumers. As a result, inflation will further increase in the months to come.

The government has also increased gas prices for K-Electric, Sindh Noordiabad and Engro Powergen Qadirpur at a rate of 22.5pc to Rs1,050 from Rs1,187 per mmBtu, while an increase of 103.72pc to Rs2,406 from Rs1,181 was made for Liberty Power and 19.65pc to Rs140 from Rs117 per mmBtu was made for Engro Fertiliser Ltd. The gas rate for cement sector was increased by 17.46pc to Rs1,500 from Rs1,023.

On Jan 10, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has already allowed two gas companies — Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) — to hike their prices by 74.42pc and 75.35pc, respectively. However, it was subject to the approval of the ECC.

BISP

The ECC approved Rs40bn as a technical supplementary grant to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to meet its budgetary requirements for an increase in the unconditional and conditional grants.

Of these, an amount of Rs12bn for Benazir Kafaalat—unconditional cash transfer covering 9 million families while another Rs22bn for disbursement of cash assistance to affectees of floods as emergency relief.

Another Rs3.720bn will be disbursed for Benazir Taleemi Wazaif, Rs1.880bn for the nutritional programme and Rs400m for the direct cost of cash transfer.

Debt rescheduling

The ECC allowed the secretary Economic Affairs Division to sign a debt rescheduling agreement for $14.53 million with Russia -- $11.73m (principal) and $2.80m (interest). This debt relief was announced in April 2020 for IDA-eligible countries to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19.

So far, 37 debt suspension agreements with 15 creditor countries have been signed.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023
----


----
Meanwhile 'neutrals' are busy in fooling awaam with such songs and slogan:

Hum Zinda Qaum Hain
Painda Qaum Hain
Hum Sub Ki Hai Pehchaan
Hum Sub Ka Nahi, sirf neutrals ka Pakistan, Pakistan,Pakistan
So, that was befitting reply to IMF by PMLN...
 
63eab46b87098.gif

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Monday increased natural gas prices in the range of 16 per cent to 112.32pc with retrospective effect from Jan 1 for six months in a bid to raise an additional Rs310 billion from the majority of domestic and all other categories of consumers to secure early disbursement of $1.2 billion tranche.

The ECC meeting chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also introduced the concept of protected consumers for a period of four months —November to February — whose average per month consumption will be below 0.9 hm3 (90 units). Four slabs for protected and six slabs for non-protected consumers were also introduced.

The minimum slab for residential consumers before the increase was 50 units per month (0.5 hm3), which under the new price mechanism was reduced to 25 units. This means consumers with low consumption would be hit under the new price mechanism to collect maximum revenue from the bulk of domestic users.

A fixed rate of Rs50 per month from protected consumers and Rs500 from non-protected consumers will be collected in addition to the increase in gas prices. The fixed-rate collection, according to the government, is justified to reduce the impact of higher bills due to increased gas consumption in winter.



Former Prime Minister Shahid Haqqan Abbasi also attended the ECC meeting along with other regular ministers. Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Power Minister Khurram Dastgir and Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha among others attended the meeting.

The hike in gas tariff for industries, a major source of electricity generation, will push up the cost of production. The industrial sector will then pass on this increase to end-consumers. As a result, inflation will further increase in the months to come.

The government has also increased gas prices for K-Electric, Sindh Noordiabad and Engro Powergen Qadirpur at a rate of 22.5pc to Rs1,050 from Rs1,187 per mmBtu, while an increase of 103.72pc to Rs2,406 from Rs1,181 was made for Liberty Power and 19.65pc to Rs140 from Rs117 per mmBtu was made for Engro Fertiliser Ltd. The gas rate for cement sector was increased by 17.46pc to Rs1,500 from Rs1,023.

On Jan 10, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has already allowed two gas companies — Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) — to hike their prices by 74.42pc and 75.35pc, respectively. However, it was subject to the approval of the ECC.

BISP

The ECC approved Rs40bn as a technical supplementary grant to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to meet its budgetary requirements for an increase in the unconditional and conditional grants.

Of these, an amount of Rs12bn for Benazir Kafaalat—unconditional cash transfer covering 9 million families while another Rs22bn for disbursement of cash assistance to affectees of floods as emergency relief.

Another Rs3.720bn will be disbursed for Benazir Taleemi Wazaif, Rs1.880bn for the nutritional programme and Rs400m for the direct cost of cash transfer.

Debt rescheduling

The ECC allowed the secretary Economic Affairs Division to sign a debt rescheduling agreement for $14.53 million with Russia -- $11.73m (principal) and $2.80m (interest). This debt relief was announced in April 2020 for IDA-eligible countries to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19.

So far, 37 debt suspension agreements with 15 creditor countries have been signed.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023
----


----
Meanwhile 'neutrals' are busy in fooling awaam with such songs and slogan:

Hum Zinda Qaum Hain
Painda Qaum Hain
Hum Sub Ki Hai Pehchaan
Hum Sub Ka Nahi, sirf neutrals ka Pakistan, Pakistan,Pakistan
Pakistani gas consumers are most ridiculous people i have seen.

Even Arabs aren't like this

We use to leave furnace on to save matches price as it was cheaper!.
And even today old school has geasers are used to heat water ..that's ridiculous no one does that

Let's say your car has a brake problem and you give it to a neighboring mistry to fix it. Mistry takes your money but does f'all. You pick up the car and drive to work but meet accident on the way because of brake failure. Car gets fixed due to insurance but two years later, break problem arises again. You take the car to same mistry.

Below is a story from Dawn from exactly twenty years back:


IMF to suggest increase in utility charges
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ikram Hoti

ISLAMABAD Feb 9: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has started
the first round of scanning the record of government receipts from
public utility services. The IMF has undertaken the study to
assessing the potential exercised during the first half of financial
year 1997-98, and to suggest the volume of increase in utility
service charges in Pakistan during the current fiscal....
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the the twenty five years, world has changed beyond recognition. I did not even have an email address back then even though I was a recent graduate out of leading state university in the US. At best, only few thousand people had access to internet in Pakistan back then. I remember getting internet access around that time in Karachi through cybernet through 14.4 kb/s modem. Access cost around PKR 100/hour and I logged on may be for an hour a day.

Twenty five years ago Pakistan's total exports amounted to around USD10bn p.a. while Vietnam exported goods worth around USD 12bn p.a. Today, Pakistan's exports stand at around USD 25-27bn while Vietnam exports goods worth around USD 340 bn.

I have been aware of Sharifs since I was a little boy who used to play maarun peetee during break time. Sharifs have controlled Punjab pretty for around 30 of the last 40 years. Yet English the media describes Shebaz Sharif as an efficient administrator who gets work done at Shebaz speed.

Even without the internet or 24/7 news channels, I could tell even back then that ruling class and their western enablers were making chutiyas out of Pakistanis. I cut my losses and beat a hasty retreat out of Pak. World was different back then so there were lots of opportunities for people like myself. But only skill that will be suitable for younger generation now is guerilla warfare.
Are you sure?
Pretty sure exports will be less then 20b this yr given lack of LC Opening
 
Pakistani gas consumers are most ridiculous people i have seen.

Even Arabs aren't like this

We use to leave furnace on to save matches price as it was cheaper!.
And even today old school has geasers are used to heat water ..that's ridiculous no one does that


Are you sure?
Pretty sure exports will be less then 20b this yr given lack of LC Opening
I say let’s increase another 50%.

For minimum slab users, there should not be an increase.

There is no gas left locally. And you don’t want to go through with the Iranian gas pipeline. Nor you plan ahead for importing of gas and end up buying at ridiculously high price.
 
Where is fool and hafeez malik? They are busy talking about u turns of IK but at the same
time their government is dropping gas bombs on the awaam.
 
Youthias are doing this..worse that are even with holding remittances and drawing for RD account

They are traitors these overseas youthias should be hanged

You are in charge now. Stop whining and let's see how you can rectify the mess. You cannot possibly blame expat PTI supporters for not sending remittances. You cannot force anyone to send remittances.
 
You are in charge now. Stop whining and let's see how you can rectify the mess.
Sir all this problem is created by shaukat tareem tricking IMF hence we are going to arrest him. He lied to IMF about our exports and remittances

If it wasn't for shaukat tareem ruppe would at 150..he stole all doodh and shahad key narhein

He should be hanged
 
Sir all this problem is created by shaukat tareem tricking IMF hence we are going to arrest him. He lied to IMF about our exports and remittances

If it wasn't for shaukat tareem ruppe would at 150..he stole all doodh and shahad key narhein

He should be hanged

Arrest as many as you like. You will also be held responsible for the backlash and unrest that arises from arresting political opponents.

Now you are in charge for almost a year and still accusing others. When will you take responsibility for your failures? Imran Khan is not in power. Neither is PTI. PDM is imported by the army and external powers. Yet PDM is unable to even secure a 1.1 billion IMF loan. Why are friendly countries not helping PDM? Did Imran Khan tell China and Saudi Arabia to boycott PDM? Why are lenders unwilling to hand any loan to PDM?
 
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Arrest as many as you like. You will also be held responsible for the backlash ans unrest that arises from arresting political opponents.

Now you are in charge for almost a year and still accusing others. When will you take responsibility for your failures? Imran Khan is not in power. Neither is PTI. PDM is imported by the army and external powers. Yet PDM is unable to even secure a 1.1 billion IMF loan. Why are friendly countries not helping PDM? Did Imran Khan tell China and Saudi Arabia to boycott PDM? Why are lenders unwilling to hand any loan to PDM?
As per our esteem leader we just got power for few months
Bajwa was with IK playing double game. Only Hafiz shahab is supporting us.
 
Notice how the Pakistani mainstream media is silent on the economic mismanagement of the Sharif family.

They are silent on them and the glorious boots who brought them into power.

63eab46b87098.gif

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Monday increased natural gas prices in the range of 16 per cent to 112.32pc with retrospective effect from Jan 1 for six months in a bid to raise an additional Rs310 billion from the majority of domestic and all other categories of consumers to secure early disbursement of $1.2 billion tranche.

The ECC meeting chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also introduced the concept of protected consumers for a period of four months —November to February — whose average per month consumption will be below 0.9 hm3 (90 units). Four slabs for protected and six slabs for non-protected consumers were also introduced.

The minimum slab for residential consumers before the increase was 50 units per month (0.5 hm3), which under the new price mechanism was reduced to 25 units. This means consumers with low consumption would be hit under the new price mechanism to collect maximum revenue from the bulk of domestic users.

A fixed rate of Rs50 per month from protected consumers and Rs500 from non-protected consumers will be collected in addition to the increase in gas prices. The fixed-rate collection, according to the government, is justified to reduce the impact of higher bills due to increased gas consumption in winter.



Former Prime Minister Shahid Haqqan Abbasi also attended the ECC meeting along with other regular ministers. Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Power Minister Khurram Dastgir and Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha among others attended the meeting.

The hike in gas tariff for industries, a major source of electricity generation, will push up the cost of production. The industrial sector will then pass on this increase to end-consumers. As a result, inflation will further increase in the months to come.

The government has also increased gas prices for K-Electric, Sindh Noordiabad and Engro Powergen Qadirpur at a rate of 22.5pc to Rs1,050 from Rs1,187 per mmBtu, while an increase of 103.72pc to Rs2,406 from Rs1,181 was made for Liberty Power and 19.65pc to Rs140 from Rs117 per mmBtu was made for Engro Fertiliser Ltd. The gas rate for cement sector was increased by 17.46pc to Rs1,500 from Rs1,023.

On Jan 10, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) has already allowed two gas companies — Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company Ltd (SSGCL) — to hike their prices by 74.42pc and 75.35pc, respectively. However, it was subject to the approval of the ECC.

BISP

The ECC approved Rs40bn as a technical supplementary grant to Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to meet its budgetary requirements for an increase in the unconditional and conditional grants.

Of these, an amount of Rs12bn for Benazir Kafaalat—unconditional cash transfer covering 9 million families while another Rs22bn for disbursement of cash assistance to affectees of floods as emergency relief.

Another Rs3.720bn will be disbursed for Benazir Taleemi Wazaif, Rs1.880bn for the nutritional programme and Rs400m for the direct cost of cash transfer.

Debt rescheduling

The ECC allowed the secretary Economic Affairs Division to sign a debt rescheduling agreement for $14.53 million with Russia -- $11.73m (principal) and $2.80m (interest). This debt relief was announced in April 2020 for IDA-eligible countries to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19.

So far, 37 debt suspension agreements with 15 creditor countries have been signed.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2023
----


----
Meanwhile 'neutrals' are busy in fooling awaam with such songs and slogan:

Hum Zinda Qaum Hain
Painda Qaum Hain
Hum Sub Ki Hai Pehchaan
Hum Sub Ka Nahi, sirf neutrals ka Pakistan, Pakistan,Pakistan

On topic there is little that can be done. It's a typical price rise to ration a scarce resource. Why it's scarce is a result of horrible mismanagement and corruption.
 

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