In a major embarrassment for Imran Khan, the electricity supply to the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Secretariat is likely to be snapped over non-payment of bills running into crores.
The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) issued a notice in this regards on August 28, Khaleej Times said in a report on Thursday.
According to media reports, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Secretariat currently owes over Rs 41 lakh to power company IESCO. Sources in the IESCO have claimed that the Secretariat has failed to pay the dues even though several reminder notices were sent.
“This is a recurrent problem with the Secretariat. We will cut off the power supply if dues are not paid,” an IESCO source was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Meanwhile, the annual fiscal deficit of Pakistan has reportedly risen to the highest in the last three decades at 8.9 per cent for the financial year 2018-19.
The fiscal deficit is a difference between revenues and expenditures of the federal government. The deficit increased to 8.9 per cent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product in the year that ended in June. The fiscal deficit was 6.6 per cent last year, reported Dawn.
In June 2019, the government had announced that it intends to keep the deficit at 7.1 per cent of GDP, whereas the target at the start of the year was 4.9 per cent.
The deficit amounts Pakistani rupee Rs 3.445 trillion, highest since 1979-80 as per the past Pakistan Economic Surveys. The figure which depicts the dire situation of Pakistan’s economy coincided with one-year completion of Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.
Imran Khan rose to power with the promise to improve the economic situation of the country. The government had last month also increased the price of petrol and diesel by Pakistan Rs 5.15 per litre and Rs 5.65 per litre, respectively.
