PM Imran announces reduced electricity tariff relief package for industries

Prime Minister Imran Khan is unveiling major relief package of the electricity tariff for small and medium industries to encourage higher power consumption and manufacturing.

PM Imran on Tuesday addresses the nation after a meeting with federal ministers which was held earlier today.

At the beginning of the briefing,  the prime minister said that starting November 1, the additional electricity used by SMEs up to June 30, 2021, will be sold at 50% lower the cost.

“So whatever amount of electricity they use in addition to what they used last November, it will cost [half] of what it did previously,” he explained.

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“Our exports in 2018 started deceasing as soon as we assumed charge. But we did not immediately try to increase them because our growth rate is based on exports,” the premier said.

“Why is electricity 25% more expensive than it should be?” asked the premier?

“Because the contracts that we signed were at very high costs,” he said, answering his own question.

“Our industries are therefore unable to compete with those that operate on 25% less expensive electricity,” he said.

The prime minister said that from 2013-2018 our exports, instead of rising, took a fall.

However, he added, “So we decided to raise our exports. We did this because a country’s growth is hinged on its exports.”

“After Covid-19, Pakistan is the only country in the subcontinent that has progressed the fastest [in terms of exports]. At the same time, Pakistan largely spared of the adverse effects of the pandemic, a fact that has been acknowledged internationally”, the PM added further.

“Our industries are therefore unable to compete with those that operate on 25% less expensive electricity,” he said.

“However, all industries will be provided additional power at 50pc of the rate”, the prime minister added.

Speaking about further lockdown crisis, the premier said that after the lockdown period, record-high cement sales have been recorded, as well as high levels of automobile sales.