The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan was generating 60 percent electricity from thermal fuels which was the major cause of rising circular debt and called upon the government to focus on indigenous energy sources including hydro, wind and solar to cope with circular debt issue.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal President, Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan was meeting 70 percent of its oil needs through imported oil due to which the country’s oil import bill during the first 8 month of current financial year has increased to $9.61 billion which was 6.7 percent more as compared to same period of last year. He said that cost of thermal power was very high due to which cost of doing business in Pakistan has increased manifold. He said that Pakistan badly needed to increase trade and exports to cope with its rising fiscal deficit for which availability of cheap energy was basic requirement to reduce production cost.
ICCI President said that due to falling value of rupee, cost of oil import would increase significantly that would further complicate circular debt issue. Therefore, it was important for Pakistan to minimize its reliance on imported oil for power generation and focus on indigenous energy sources. He said that government has announced to bring down circular debt to zero level by December 2020 and added that materializing this goal would be a big achievement for it.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that power theft was also one of the causes of rising circular debt as it was increasing the losses of power companies due to which they were unable to clear their oil payment obligations. He stressed that government should launch a strong campaign against power theft and enhance the use of technology to cope with this issue that will reduce the losses power companies and resolve circular debt issue more smoothly.