Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt on Wednesday said generating electricity from expensive fuels would have a negative impact on the people and the economy and would accelerate the growth of circular debt which is above Rs24,000 billion or 14 billion dollars.
The circular debt is already a major threat to the national economy and should not be increased but decreased using all the available options, he said.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that because of mismanagement in the procurement of LNG, electricity is now being generated from diesel which has reached its highest level in the last seven years, leading to rising import bill which is increasing the budget deficit.
The business leader said that diesel is 14% more expensive than furnace oil while it is 55% more expensive than LNG but it is still being preferred for power generation.
He informed that seventeen percent of Pakistan’s electricity used to be generated from LNG, but now that proportion is steadily declining and it is being replaced by other expansive options.
Pakistan have to bear an additional cost of 1.2 billion dollars if the oil price is increased by five dollars in the international market and the oil barrel has risen by 44 dollars and is expected to rise further, which will be a major test for all developing oil-importing countries, he observed.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a sharp rise in the price of many commodities, including oil, gas and grain, while nothing is being done to save the people from the inflation shock as the government’s focus is on thwarting the plans of opposition.
