According to the latest news sources, the gas circular debt has surged to a whopping amount of 350 billion rupees. While a few days ago, the special advisor to Prime Minister Nadeem Babar blamed the previous government for the gas crisis, he didn’t tell us anything about the present government’s reforms to address the menace of circular debt. Blaming the previous regimes for the current issues is the standard excuse in Pakistan to avoid accountability and difficult questions. The circular debt in the gas sector did not come out of nowhere, however. The issue was here for a long time.
Worth mentioning here is Power Division Minister Omar Ayub Khan’s statement that he made during a news conference in late September. Back then, the debt amount was Rs250 billion. The increase of 100 billion in just two months in the gas sector’s debt speaks volumes about the relevant ministry’s performance. Should we curse the previous rulers for the recent increase? Will that somehow solve the structural, policy and technical failures in the gas sector? Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has control of the state’s affairs. Why are we not seeing the fruits of the so-called reforms that the incumbent government has introduced?
There are two principal reasons for the circular debt problem in the gas sector. First, consumer tariffs are insufficient to recover the rising costs of gas supply and distribution. And the gas companies’ inability to recover dues from consumers adds further to the problem. Second, the government has yet to come with a solution for Unaccounted-for Gas (UFG) reaching 16 percent; perhaps, this is the biggest contributing factor in raising the circular debt. Suffice to say that policy gaps and political inaction are two major causes behind the procedural and structural flaws in the gas sector. The government must address the highlighted causes if it wants to get rid of the circular debt.
https://nation.com.pk/04-Dec-2020/more-circular-debt
More Circular Debt :edit in The Nation, Dec 4th, 2020
According to the latest news sources, the gas circular debt has surged to a whopping amount of 350 billion rupees. While a few days ago, the special advisor to Prime Minister Nadeem Babar blamed the previous government for the gas crisis, he didn’t tell us anything about the present government’s reforms to address the menace of circular debt. Blaming the previous regimes for the current issues is the standard excuse in Pakistan to avoid accountability and difficult questions. The circular debt in the gas sector did not come out of nowhere, however. The issue was here for a long time.
Worth mentioning here is Power Division Minister Omar Ayub Khan’s statement that he made during a news conference in late September. Back then, the debt amount was Rs250 billion. The increase of 100 billion in just two months in the gas sector’s debt speaks volumes about the relevant ministry’s performance. Should we curse the previous rulers for the recent increase? Will that somehow solve the structural, policy and technical failures in the gas sector? Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has control of the state’s affairs. Why are we not seeing the fruits of the so-called reforms that the incumbent government has introduced?
There are two principal reasons for the circular debt problem in the gas sector. First, consumer tariffs are insufficient to recover the rising costs of gas supply and distribution. And the gas companies’ inability to recover dues from consumers adds further to the problem. Second, the government has yet to come with a solution for Unaccounted-for Gas (UFG) reaching 16 percent; perhaps, this is the biggest contributing factor in raising the circular debt. Suffice to say that policy gaps and political inaction are two major causes behind the procedural and structural flaws in the gas sector. The government must address the highlighted causes if it wants to get rid of the circular debt.
https://nation.com.pk/04-Dec-2020/more-circular-debt
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan