EAD inks loan agreement with Exim Bank of South Korea

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan said that Pakistan would obtain $20.635 billion loan as per signed agreement between the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) and the Exim Bank of South Korea.

In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly on Wednesday, the minister said that $20.635 billion will be obtained through the loan and the lender of this loan is Exim Bank, South Korea.

He said the period for repayment of principal amount was 40 years. He said in addition, there was a grace period of 10 years. No amount had been repaid to the lender so far, he said.

The minister said that no amount had yet been paid in the category of interest to date. He said that as per agreement the principal amount and interest will be fully repaid to the lender in 50 years.

He said that loan would be utilised to improve access to financial and public services by expending the geographic reach of ICT infrastructure across the nation including rural regions.

He said loan was aimed at increasing efficiency and the quality of financial and public services by computerising and modernising Post Office.

Minister for Energy (Petroleum Division) Musadik Masood Malik also told the House that the existing amount of circular debt of petroleum sector was Rs2.897 trillion which included interest of Rs814 billion.

In another written reply to the Lower House of the Parliament, he said the major part of above circular debt was related to gas sector which included tariff differential due to non-increase of consumer gas prices during FY 2013 to 2023, diversion of RLNG from FY2019 to FY2023, taxation claims, recoveries pending in courts etc.

He said that in order to stop the flow of circular debt in gas sector mainly tariff differential and diversion of RLNG to domestic, government had revised the gas prices encompassing recovery of RLNG diversion. He said that to handle the stock of circular debt prior to FY2024, government was working as various options of cash/non cash settlement.

Minister for Energy (Power Division) Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari told the House that a total of 256.35 billion were receivables against the departments of federal and provincial governments including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) for the year ending June 2024.

In a written reply, the minister said that Rs47.811 billion are receivables against federal government, Rs151.763 billion against provincial governments and Rs56.771 billion against AJK.

The minister said that at present, no load shedding was being carried out in the country on account of generation shortfall. However, he said the DISCOs were carrying out load management in their area on the basis of high Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of feeders.

He said the available generation was sufficient to meet the country’s electricity demand and no-load shedding was being carried out in the country on account of generation shortfall. However, sometimes feeders become faulty due to overloading, short-circuits or other faults because of which consumers had to face un-announced power outages till rectification of fault/restoration of supply, he said. He said that as of May 2024, the total capacity of net metering based installations reached up to 2,187 MW.

The minister said that a total of 171,334 FIRs were registered against electricity stealers and 84,060 persons were arrested. He said the detection bills of 334 MkWh units amounting to Rs12.663 billion charged to consumers and Rs7.018 billion of detection bills recovered.

In a written reply to the House, Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Ishaq Dar said that according to data obtained from 88 Pakistan Missions abroad, a total of 19,997 Pakistanis were imprisoned in foreign jails. He said that there was a total of 68 Pakistanis on death row in 10 countries.