Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday expressed serious concern over swelling circular debt of Rs414 billion and warned that it would be disastrous for the country if the government failed to take any appropriate measures to immediately resolve the issue.
Speaking in National Assembly, Asad Umar of PTI said that the power sector circular debt has once again reached Rs414 billion till February 15, 2017 and overdue of the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) has crossed Rs 250 billion.
The PTI leader said, "Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar had paid Rs 480 billion without any audit to end circular debt in the past with assurance that it would not increase in future, but despite all that it has once again reached Rs414 billion".
Umar said that the petroleum refining companies have stopped refining process and the crisis of petroleum products would develop in the country if the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government did not take any action to resolve it.
According to the IPPs Advisory Council, the total verified and audited amounts overdue to the power sector (excluding Wapda Hydel) stood at Rs414 billion.
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) also expressed grave concern over swelling circular debt in the power sector that has touched alarming level and urged upon the policy-makers to tackle the problem to maintain the macro-economic stability of the country.
Analysts of the power sector maintained that the 'good performance' is not appropriate as Rs 93 billion of tariff differential was not paid to the consumers in 2015-16 due to non-notification of Discos tariffs; likewise an amount of Rs 60 billion was not passed onto the consumers during the last seven months of current fiscal year. The Ministry of Water and Power has received subsidy of Rs 118 billion from the federal budget.
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