Curbing the Growing Circular Debt

in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Hasnain Akram

(February, 2023)
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Abstract
This paper sheds light on the growing circular debt in the power sector of Pakistan. It briefly
explains the origin of circular debt and its impact on country’s economy. It probes into the
factors contributing to ever ballooning circular debt and suggests some policy
recommendations to stem its growth.

Executive Summary
Power sector’s circular debt emerged in 2006 due to increase in global fuel prices and has been
ballooning ever since such that it reached Rs. 2.25 trillion till the end of June 2022. Its roots
can be traced back to 1990s when expensive and unsustainable contracts were made with
Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Majority of the IPPs being imported fuels based plants,
led to higher cost of electricity generation. The difference between NEPRA notified power
tariffs and government issued rates (lower than the ones notified by NEPRA due to political
reasons) leads to deficit within the power sector. Furthermore, higher transmission and
distribution losses and poor bill recovery by DISCOs (Electricity Distribution Companies) have
been contributing to ballooning circular debt. Successive governments have been increasing
power tariffs to recover cost of electricity and to pay off the circular debt. These power tariff
hikes have resulted in high cost of doing business, decline in investment, drop in productivity,
and increase in inflation, ultimately impeding the country’s economic growth. Therefore, a
financial overhaul of DISCOs is integral to control the circular debt. Steps like breaking down
of large DISCOs into smaller units, technological interventions to prevent electricity theft and
improve bill recovery, revision of IPPs contracts and rationalization of power subsidies can
help in reducing the circular debt in country’s power sector.
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Introduction
Circular debt is a persistent problem in Pakistan that has caused significant economic and
energy-related challenges. Unfortunately, the issue of circular debt in the power sector has not
been controlled yet despite efforts by successive governments. The power, petroleum, and
natural gas sectors are the three largest contributors to the circular debt in the energy sector,
contributing Rs. 2,277 billion, Rs. 600 billion, and Rs. 1,400 billion respectively till the end of
2022.1 Though the circular debt emerged in 2006 in the power sector, its seeds were sown in
1990s with the implementation of short-sighted contracts with Independent Power Producers
(IPPs). It allowed furnace oil based expensive power generation plants and burdened the
governments with the increasing capacity payments. Expensive energy fuel mix, loss incurring
DISCOs (Power Distribution Companies), flawed and delayed power tariff determination and
unbudgeted subsidies are some of the other factors contributing to the growing circular debt in
power sector. The accumulation of circular debt in the power sector is affecting not only the
available capacity but also the creditworthiness of the country in the eyes of investors. The
governments have been increasing the power tariff to pay off the debt (capacity payments
mainly). These power tariff hikes have resulted in high cost of doing business, decline in
investment, drop in productivity, and increase in inflation, ultimately impeding the country’s
economic growth. Therefore, it needs immediate attention of policy makers.

Understanding Circular Debt in the Power Sector

Circular debt in the power sector is a power sector deficit that refers to a situation where money
owed by electricity distribution companies to power supplier is not or partially transferred,
which then is not able to either pay or end up delaying the payments to the power generation
utilities and fuel suppliers, creating a vicious cycle. Circular debt in Pakistan refers to the
accumulated unpaid liabilities of power distribution companies (DISCOs) to the Central Power
Purchasing Authority-Guarantee (CPPA-G), resulting in delayed payments by CPPA-G to
power generation companies (GENCOs). To bridge the cash shortfall, Power Holding Private
Limited (PHPL) borrows funds to settle CPPA-G's obligations. The circular debt is typically
distributed between CPPA-G and PHPL in almost equal proportions. Figure 1 highlights the
shortfall in the cash flow all the way from DISCOs to fuel suppliers. Due to poor recovery and
high distribution losses incurred by the DISCOs, CPPA-G does not receive the outstanding
payment from them. Resultantly, CPPA-G cannot make payments to other power companies
which include state-owned generation companies (GENCOs), Independent Power Producers
(IPPs) and National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC). This shortfall in payment
cascades into GENCOs and IPPs failing to clear their dues to fuel suppliers. Therefore, the fuel
suppliers like Pakistan State Oil default on their payment towards refineries and international
fuel suppliers.

1
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2391025/circular-debt-soars-past-rs4177bn
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Figure 1- Cash Flow and Power Supply in the Power Sector

Source: PIDE Working Papers No 2020:202

Current Status of Circular Debt

Circular Debt in the power sector was recorded in FY2006 for the first time due to a sharp rise
in international fuel prices.3 Because of global increase in fuel prices, the generation cost of
electricity also went up, but consumer-end tariffs remained almost static keeping in view the
political consideration. Power tariffs started increasing in 2008 and onwards but they were not
at par with the cost recovery rate and thus, engendered deficit in the power sector. The crisis at
hand can be traced back to the 1990s, specifically during the unbundling of WAPDA, where
ill-advised long-term contracts were made with private independent power producers (IPPs)
without proper long-term impact analysis. This mistake was repeated over the years as more
IPPs were given licenses to add more installed power generation capacity without updating
transmission and distribution infrastructure. This burdened both the energy sector and the
overall economy, with the circular debt reaching a staggering amount of Rs 2.25 trillion till the
end of June 2022, equivalent to 3.4% of the GDP. The cumulative losses incurred by the sector
since FY2006 are estimated to be around Rs 5.7 trillion, which accounts for a significant 9%

2
https://pide.org.pk/research/circular-debt-an-unfortunate-misnomer/
3
https://pide.org.pk/research/circular-debt-an-unfortunate-misnomer/
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

of the current GDP.4 Figure 2 highlights the growth of circular debt over the years under
different political regimes.

Figure 2: Growth of Circular Debt (Rs. Billion)

Source: Power Sector: An Enigma with No Easy Solution, PIDE5

Gravity of the Issue

The effects of circular debt are far-reaching and damaging to the economy. It has led to high
tariffs, high cost of doing business, decline in investment, increase in power outages, and
decrease in productivity; impeding the economic growth. Additionally, circular debt has put
significant pressure on the public finances, forcing it to allocate a large portion of its budget to
repay the debt. As outflows in the power sector are guaranteed payments, government borrows
from commercial banks to finance the deficit in the power sector. It leads to crowding out
private borrowing. Since a huge share of budget is spent to finance the power sector deficit,
other development expenditures are neglected. For example, from FY07 to FY19, the
government provided a cumulative budgetary support of around Rs. 3,202 billion to the power
sector, out of which Rs. 2.86 trillion was paid on account of budgetary subsidies and Rs. 342

4
https://pide.org.pk/research/power-sector-an-enigma-with-no-easy-solution/
5
https://pide.org.pk/research/power-sector-an-enigma-with-no-easy-solution/
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

billion in other liquidity injections.6 As a bulk of budget is disbursed to finance the power sector
deficit, the budgetary space for development expenditures is shrinked. A case in point is the
electricity subsidies given in FY2020 which accounted for almost 8% of net revenue. Whereas,
education sector received hardly 2.6% in total.7 Despite various measures taken by successive
governments, power sector financial losses are increasing. Declining budgetary support in the
development sectors have negatively impacted labor productivity, ultimately leading to a
decline in economic productivity. Figure 3 highlights the impact of shortfall in the cash flow
(due to poor recovery and higher T&D losses) on circular debt and consequently on the
economic growth.

Figure 3- Linkage between Circular Debt and Economic Growth

Source: PRIME Report, September 20218

Causes of Circular Debt

Following are the five key contributors to the circular debt flow:

1- Flawed Contracts with The Independent Power Producers (IPPs)

6
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2199737/two-decades-flawed-policies-power-producers-make-
billions-pakistan
7
https://pide.org.pk/pdfpideresearch/wp-0191-circular-debt-an-unfortunate-misnomer.pdf
8
https://primeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DISCOs-Report-PRIME.pdf
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

1994 power policy combined with successive power policies, offered lucrative incentives, such
as tax exemptions, free repatriation of equity and dividends, and guaranteed capacity payments,
to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for adding into the installed generation capacity. The
contracts didn’t mention checks on expensive fuel utilization by the IPPs. It led to an increase
in the generation cost because of capacity payments component under ‘Take or Pay’ model.
Dollar based rate of return to IPPs have further burdened the national exchequer as the rupee
has been consistently devaluing. As a result, demand for electricity has gone down due to rising
cost affecting revenues of DISCOs, and accordingly, payables to IPPs are ballooning adding to
the circular debt.

2- High cost of power generation eventually contributing to the DISCOs’ bill

collection and operational inefficiencies
From the figure 4, it is visible that Pakistan's energy mix is highly expensive because over 40
percent of power generation relies on imported fuels. Over the years, our reliance on re-gasified
liquefied natural gas (RLNG) and imported coal has increased. As the imported fuels are
subject to their international market prices, a rise in their international price adds to the cost of
power generation, which the consumer-end tariffs are unable to recover fully, adding to the
deficit in the power sector. Currency devaluation further exacerbates the circular debt issue.
Expensive electricity also lowers its demand and consequently poor bill revenue generation by
the DISCOs triggering a shortfall in cash flow within the power sector.

Figure 4: Electricity Fuel Mix, 2019

Source: Circular Debt- An Unfortunate Misnomer9

3- Pitfalls and delays in the tariff determination

9
https://pide.org.pk/research/circular-debt-an-unfortunate-misnomer/
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

The rates notified by the government for end consumers are often lower than the tariffs
recommended by NEPRA (National Electric Power Regulatory Authority) due to political
reasons. This creates a disparity between electricity costs and revenues. Additionally, the
notification process is frequently delayed by an average of 9-12 months.10 This delay also adds
to payment arrears. To cover the fiscal gap between actual cost and notified rate, the
government provides tariff differential subsidies to the DISCOs (Distribution Companies).
However, many a times the government is unable to make timely payments or delays them.
Because of financial constraints, the government passes on the costs to compliant consumers
through taxes, surcharges, and tariff hikes. This puts a burden on consumers, in the form of
increased power tariffs, and diminishes their purchasing power, leading to reduced electricity
demand and subsequently lower bill collection by the DISCOs. The bills’ low recovery feeds
into circular debt.

4- High Transmission and Distribution Losses and Poor Revenue Collection by the
DISCOs
All the DISCOs including K-Electric have been incurring huge T&D losses and facing low
recovery of the billed amount (due to leakages, electricity theft and non-compliance) which
add to the circular debt accumulation. Table 1 shows the contribution of DISCOs to the circular
owing to T&D losses and poor bill recovery over the fiscal years 16-20.

Table 1- Financial Loss Due to DISCOs’ Inefficiency (FY16-20)

Financial Loss Amount in billion rupees

Financial Loss due to T&D losses 195
Financial Loss due to non-recovery of Bills 452
Total Financial Loss 647
Source: PRIME Report September 202111

5- Unbudgeted Subsidies

As discussed earlier, government provides tariff differential subsidies to DISCOs for

distributing electricity to the end-consumers at the government-notified power tariffs. But most
often, government cannot fully fund these subsidies to the DISCOs. These unfunded subsidies
have contributed to an increase in circular debt by PRs135 billion during the period from

10
Energy Sector Reforms and Financial Sustainability Program (Subprogram 2), Circular Debt Impact on Power
Sector Investment
https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/pak-53165-002-rrp
11
https://primeinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DISCOs-Report-PRIME.pdf
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

FY2019 to FY2020. The budget allocation for government subsidies has decreased from
PRs240 billion to PRs120 billion for the period from FY2020 to FY2021.12

Figure 4: Composition of Circular Debt Flow, 2019-2020

Source: Circular Debt Impact on Power Sector Investment, Energy Sector Reforms and
Financial Sustainability Program (Subprogram 2)13

Policy Recommendations:

1- Improving the Financial Performance of DISCOs in Pakistan

High transmission and distribution losses of the DISCOs are one of the biggest contributors to
growing circular debt. Following governance and managerial models within DISCOs can be
undertaken for their financial turnaround. The purpose is to replace bureaucratic management
with professional and more decentralized management of DISCOs.

o Municipality model

12
Energy Sector Reforms and Financial Sustainability Program (Subprogram 2), Circular Debt Impact on Power
Sector Investment
https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/pak-53165-002-rrp
13
Energy Sector Reforms and Financial Sustainability Program (Subprogram 2), Circular Debt Impact on Power
Sector Investment
https://www.adb.org/projects/documents/pak-53165-002-rrp
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Government needs to make all the DISCOs independent. DISCOS cannot run according to the
service model. As per this model, Municipality needs to buy electricity in bulk, collect the bills,
and pay back. This model can be extended from the municipality to the district level. The
rationale behind this municipality model is that due to ministerial influence, via PEPCO,
DISCOs employees cannot recover the bills from consumers who have political backing. And
so, they can't make decisions as well. Hence, decentralized control is a must, which can only
be ensured via the municipality model. The municipal administration can ensure 100%
recovery as they have the law enforcement departments and civil administration at their
disposal. Municipality model is an antidote to the political interference, as it would assign
responsibility of bill recovery to the very political leaders, who have otherwise interfered in
DISCOs’ administration decisions to their detriment. However, a strong local government
system is a pre-requisite for the implementation of this model.

o Cooperative Model

Cooperative model can be adopted especially in the rural areas. This model has been a huge
success in US and China. Under this model, the community members are given the ownership
of power distribution in their community, for which they have to collect bills among themselves
and pay back to the power suppliers. Therefore, make cooperatives in rural areas. It is
implemented in America where their rural distribution works on the model of cooperatives.

o Management model
Another model is the private management model. We can make a private board for each
DISCO. The board should consist of 20-25 members, which are experts from all the related
fields. In short, this model is analogous to the private business model in the public sector
organizations. They should decide the matters of the companies. This model is effective as not
only it will bring in expert management, but also the control of ministry would be reduced on
the affairs of DISCOs, as it would be difficult for the government to expel all the members of
the private boards as it does with the CEO of the DISCOs. A sample test of this model can be
tested and later applied to all the DISCOs.

a. Breaking up of DISCOs into smaller units

Large geographical area is a main hurdle to achieving 100% bill recovery and reducing T&D
losses. Large areas are hard to control and data analysis corroborates this argument. Three
DISCOs combined cover an area of around 493,177 kilometers square, which is nearly 62% of
the total area of the country. The table below details the areas covered by each of these three
DISCOs:
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Table 2: Geographical Areas of DISCOs (QESCO, PESCO and MEPCO)

DISCO Geographical Area (km^2) % of Country’s Total Area

QESCO 334,616 42.03%
PESCO 77,474 9.73%
MEPCO 81,087 10.19%
Total 493,177 61.95%
Source: Improving power DISCOs’ performance, The EXPRESS TRIBUNE.14

And if we look at NEPRA’s 2019-2020 Performance Evaluation Report of DISCOs, we come

to know that all these three DISCOs have the major share in AT&C losses. They also perform
the least in indicator of bill recovery. Refer to the figures below to assess their relative
performance in terms of the AT&C losses and their share in the T&D loss category.

Figure 5: DISCOs’ Breach of T&D target

Source: NEPRA’s Performance Evaluation Report of Distribution Companies 2019-202015

14
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2336829/improving-power-discos-performance
15
https://nepra.org.pk/Standards/2021/PER%20DISCOs%202019-20%20updated.pdf
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Figure 6: DISCOs’ Breach of T&D target

Source: NEPRA’s Performance Evaluation Report of Distribution Companies 2019-202016

And comparative analysis of the financial loss caused by MEPCO, QESCO and PESCO to the
national exchequer is roughly 59% (calculations performed in the table 3).

Table 3: Financial Losses Incurred by DISCOs (PESCO, QESCO, and MEPCO)

Name of DISCO Financial Loss % Financial Loss of the Total Loss

(million Rs.) incurred by all the DISCOs
PESCO 22,521.27 38.28%
QESCO 682.44 1.16%
MEPCO 10,933.22 18.58%
Cumulative loss of above three 34,136.93 58.03%
DISCOs
Total Loss of all DISCOs 58,828.67
Source: Author’s calculations, NEPRA’s Performance Evaluation Report of Distribution
Companies 2019-202017

Thus, larger geographical area is directly proportional to more T&D losses. Therefore, in order
to improve their efficiency (DISCOs with larger areas to supply power), they need to be divided

16
https://nepra.org.pk/Standards/2021/PER%20DISCOs%202019-20%20updated.pdf
17
NEPRA’s Performance Evaluation Report of Distribution Companies 2019-2020
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

into smaller units. High-loss DISCOs like PESCO, QESCO, and MEPCO may be initially
taken up for this task. The reason large service areas translate into more AT&C losses and poor
bill recovery is because of the larger distances between control centers and field offices and
operations. This weakens the control and oversight capacity of DISCOs’ administration. And
if the size of a DISCO’s service area is reduced, it becomes easier for the staff to manage the
power facilities and to exert control. Smaller DISCOs may require cheaper management and
smaller boards as well. T&D losses and other pilferages can be reduced due to closer control
and oversight. The other benefit of smaller DISCOs is that private companies find it easier to
manage because the risks of controlling far located regions are minimized. Thus, prospects of
privatization of DISCOs increase with the division of large DISCOs into smaller ones. In short,
there is indeed a strong case for dividing large geographical domains of DISCOs into two or
three parts.

2- Overcoming social norms of electricity theft / non-payment of bills

One key factor behind poor recovery of bills relates to the social norm or the people's mindset
of not paying the electricity. Many people consider electricity an entitlement, and not a private
good. This factor is particularly challenging as technical and punitive measures fail to show
progress on this front. It calls for innovative policy solutions. Following innovative policy
solutions can be employed to achieve the desired results:

a. Shifting public perception on electricity from an entitlement towards a

private good
It is possible through tariff reforms aimed at reducing the subsidy. The subsidized provision of
electricity has a regressive effect on the consumers. It implicitly reinforces the social norm that
electricity is an entitlement, which has to be provided by the government. Thus, the government
should omit the subsidy from the electricity tariffs. Because electricity subsidy is not achieving
the intended objective. Government has subsidized tariffs for poor consumers (who use below
300 units per month). But even the middle and rich consumers, who actually have the capacity
to purchase electricity at its actual cost of production and distribution, are exploiting it to their
advantage. They are doing so by installing more than one meter at their places so that the units’
reading gets divided across the meters. It helps them pay the bills at subsidized tariffs as their
consumed electricity units fall under the protected consumers' category. Instead, what
government can do is to ensure a system of unconditional, direct cash transfers targeted at the
poorest. Poor consumers can use this amount to pay their bills. Also, these transfers would be
hard for rich consumers to avail for themselves.

b. Incentive schemes
A policy option in this regard is the introduction of performance incentives for bill collectors.
The more they collect bills, the more performance bonuses they will get. Not only will this
boost their collection efforts, but also hinder DISCOs’ staff collusion with the default
consumers.

c. Social trust mechanisms to improve bill collection

Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

This is probably the most innovative policy intervention. But unfortunately, none of the
DISCOs had taken it up so far. It attempts at gaining the trust of the community to pay their
bills. A community mobilization mechanism should be devised in a way that consumers are
charted into small community circles on the basis of their geographical connectivity. Among
these communities, local leaders should be identified. They should be incentivized to liaison
with the bill recovery staff of DISCOs. It would improve bill recovery because if your own
neighbor is coming to your doorsteps, it would be hard for you to avoid payment of bills.

This community mobilization was the key element behind the success of rural electrification
cooperatives in America18. These rural cooperatives were made up of communities of farmers,
who maintained the grid and collected bills. It not only brought their bill recovery up but also
led to rural grid expansion19. A simile model was also practiced in China, which proved to be
a success.

3- Use of technology for making electricity excludable to non-payers

The response of DISCOs’ staff towards the non-payers has been very reactionary in nature.
This is evident from cases of revenue-based load shedding in high theft\low recovery areas of
PESCO and K-Electric. But it is not a wise step, as it also hurts the fair consumers and rather
discourages them to pay bills. Instead of blocking out power to the whole area, some
technological tools could be employed to make electricity excludable to non-payers. Following
are some tangible technological solutions:

a. Replacement of bare conductors wires with Kunda Resistant Aerial

Bundled Cables:
One common way of stealing electricity is by hooking a Kunda with the bare electrical wires.
This can be reduced by replacing Kunda-resistant ABC cables, which do not let Kunda draw
current from the power supply cables. K-electric has installed these Kunda-resistant cables in
their high theft regions, and positive effects (in the form of lower theft cases) are achieved.

b. Smart Metering:
A drive for smart metering should be started by all the DISCOs, as it would help them improve
their recovery ratio. If a consumer is consuming electricity, but not paying the bill, DISCOs’
officials can disconnect the service by sitting in their offices. But for it, a smart meter should
be connected at the consumer’s place. Smart meters also have an inbuilt prepaid billing option.
That can also help improve the bill recovery.

4- Reducing the Cost of Electricity Generation

18
https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Burgess-et-al-2019-Final-Report.pdf
19
https://www.theigc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Burgess-et-al-2019-Final-Report.pdf
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

Cost of electricity generation can be reduced by undertaking following reforms within the
contracts with IPPs and energy fuel mix:

a. Replace the dollar-indexed rate of return to IPPs with the one based on Pakistani
rupee.
b. A forensic audit of IPPs should be done to check on their excess profitability.20
c. The contracts with IPPs which are matured, should be discontinued.
d. In order to reduce reliance on imported fuel which are adding to the cost of
power generation, government needs to work on indigenous energy resources
such as Thar coal having the power generation potential of over 100 GW and
renewable energy with over 3,000 GW potential of power generation.21

5- Reducing Subsidies
a. The government should terminate subsidies on electricity and rather provide
direct cash transfers to low-income households.

Conclusion:

Circular debt is a major challenge for Pakistan's economy and energy sector. Addressing this
problem requires a comprehensive and integrated approach, including models for financial
turnaround of DISCOs, reforms in IPPs’ contracts, indigenization of fuel mix, and rolling back
of subsidies. The implementation of these policies will help to break the vicious cycle of
circular debt and ensure the sustainable growth of the energy sector and the economy.

20
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2199737/two-decades-flawed-policies-power-producers-make-billions-
pakistan
21
https://www.pbc.org.pk/wp-content/uploads/Towards-Pakistanu2019s-Energy-Security-and-
Competitiveness.pdf
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

ACTION MATRIX

Problem Pathways to How to Implement Actors Implementation

Solutions Each Solution Responsib Timeline
le

Circular Improving the Breaking up of DISCOs Ministry of All these policy

Debt: Financial into smaller units. Energy. measures vary in
Performance of terms of their
2.25 DISCOs. Overcoming social Ministry of implementation
trillion norms of electricity Petroleum. timeline.
recorded theft\non-payment of
bills. Ministry of Measures like
on 30
Planning breaking up breaking
June 2022
Shifting public Developm up of DISCOs into
perception on electricity ent and smaller units, and
from an entitlement Special reducing the cost of
towards a private good. Initiative. electricity generation
Incentive schemes. are long term
Social trust mechanisms DISCOs.
solutions, which can
to improve bill PEPCO. take 5 to 7 years for
collection. their implementation.
Use of technology for CPPA.
making electricity IPPs. Solutions such as
excludable to non- managerial reforms
payers. GENCOs. within DISCOs and
reducing subsidies
NTDC
Municipality model. are short term in
Cooperative Model. nature and can be
Management Model. implemented with 1
to 3 years.

Reducing the Reforms in IPPs’

Cost of contracts.
Electricity Indigenization of Fuel
Generation. Mix

Reducing
Subsidies
Policy Brief Curbing the Growing Circular Debt in Pakistan’s Power Sector

About the Author

Hasnain Akram is working as Research Associate at Chair Economic Security, Islamabad

Policy Research Institute. Before joining IPRI, he was working as Policy Consultant at
Strategic Policy Planning Cell, Prime Minister Office. Previously, he was employed at LUMS
Energy Institute as Policy Analyst.