The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has granted permission for the Pakistani government to decrease the electricity tariff by an amount of Rs1 per unit.
This relief will be incorporated into the basic tariff for electricity consumption, with the necessary funds being sourced from the revenue collected through the imposition of levies on captive power plants. There is a levy specifically placed on the use of gas by these captive power plants.
Furthermore, the government is diligently crafting a relief package for electricity consumers, which will be unveiled following the endorsement from the global lender.
This decision comes shortly after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistani authorities achieved a staff-level agreement regarding the initial review under Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a new agreement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
An IMF delegation, spearheaded by Nathan Porter, engaged in discussions from February 24 to March 14, 2025, during a mission to Karachi and Islamabad, followed by virtual talks, aimed at reviewing Pakistan’s economic program backed by the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and establishing a new framework under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
The IMF delegation reached a staff-level agreement (SLA) with the Pakistani officials on the preliminary review of the 37-month Extended Arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and a new 28-month scheme under the IMF’s RSF, providing total access to approximately $1.3 billion (SDR 1 billion).
The agreement on a staff level is pending the green light from the IMF’s Executive Board. Once approved, Pakistan will obtain access to roughly US$1.0 billion (SDR 760 million) as part of the EFF, increasing the total disbursements under the program to an estimated US$2.0 billion.