By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday launched a three-year subsidy package offering cut-rate electricity to its industrial and agricultural sectors in a bid to spur exports and job growth, despite ongoing IMF pressure to curb untargeted energy support.
The “Roshan Maeeshat Bijli Package” will provide additional power at Rs22.98 per unit from November 2025 to October 2028, slashing costs from the current Rs34 for industry and Rs38 for agriculture, according to the prime minister’s office.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif unveiled the plan during a meeting with experts from the industrial and agricultural sectors and business representatives, framing it as a critical step to enhance competitiveness and ease doing business in the cash-strapped South Asian nation. “From November 2025 till October 2028, additional electricity will be provided to both the industrial and agricultural sectors throughout the year at a rate of Rs22.98 per unit,” Sharif said.
He stressed that the subsidised power would not strain other users. “The electricity supplied under the Roshan Maeeshat Bijli Package will not place any burden on households or other sectors.”
“The development of industry and agriculture is vital for the growth of the national economy and the creation of employment opportunities,” the premier said. “We are taking every possible step to enhance the competitiveness of Pakistan’s industries and agricultural sector within the region and to improve the ease of doing business.”
Sharif highlighted a pilot phase last winter, when industries and farmers used an extra 410 gigawatt-hours of power, which helped revive production, boost exports and create jobs. “By supporting our farmers and industries with affordable energy, we will accelerate growth and move toward self-reliance,” he said, adding that with continued efforts from the government’s economic team and the business community, Pakistan would achieve “full economic sovereignty in the near future.”
He called the initiative “a timely measure to strengthen Pakistan’s economy and ensure growth in exports and employment,” saying industrial and agricultural growth was key to reducing the country’s debt dependency. The move comes as Pakistan grapples with a beleaguered energy sector plagued by high generation costs, hefty subsidies and a “circular debt” that reached Rs2.396 trillion by the end of March 2025.
Under a 37-month, $7 billion Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund approved in September 2024, Islamabad has pledged to restore cost recovery in the power sector, reduce line losses and phase out untargeted subsidies. The IMF has pressed Pakistan to align tariffs with actual supply costs and restrict fiscal aid to targeted, time-bound programmes. To alleviate pressure on state-run power distributors, the government in June 2025 clinched a Rs1.275 trillion syndicated financing deal with local banks to cover part of the debt.
Business lobbies have repeatedly flagged high energy costs as a drag on competitiveness, with industrial growth hampered by tariff increases and unreliable supply. Days before the announcement, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) called on the government to roll out a long-term, incremental electricity consumption package for industry to tackle soaring tariffs. In a letter to Power Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, the FPCCI voiced concern that an earlier pledge to bring industrial tariffs down to regional levels of 6 to 8 US cents per unit had not been met, warning it was undermining Pakistani goods in global markets.
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