Pakistani Govt. considers reducing working days to save fuel

PAKISTAN: Amid rising oil consumption and import bill owing to higher international prices, the Pakistan government, led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, is mulling the possibility of fuel conservation through reduced working days a week, hoping to save an estimated annual foreign exchange of up to $2.7 billion.

Pakistan’s total oil imports during the first 10 months of this fiscal year (July-April) have gone past $17 billion, showing a massive 96 percent growth compared to the same period last fiscal year.

The surge, the experts say, is not because of the rising oil prices in the international market alone, as the country’s import of petroleum products and crude have also increased by 24 percent and 1.36 percent, respectively.

As per the report, the State Bank has prepared three different scenarios through which the government can save an annual foreign exchange ranging between US$1.5 to US$2.7 billion.

These estimates suggest that the additional consumption of petroleum products for an additional working day amounts to about US$642 million in terms of commuting. This does not include freight and transportation. The estimated reduced consumption with one less working day a week can reduce about US$2.1 billion on our import bill.

“All saving numbers are taken for a net reduction in oil import but subsidy on petroleum products could also come down by Rs.3.5 billion per day,” the report said.

Similarly, the Power Division has also advised the government to limit commercial activities to daylight, reduce the number of working days per week, and launch a national energy conservation drive across the energy consumption sectors with electricity savings of more than 5,000 Megawatt.

– DAWN