Govt sets bold DISCO sale deadline

Express Tribune reported that the government has told the IMF it aims to sell nine power distribution companies by December 2027, with Quetta Electricity Supply Company excluded from the plan. The first batch of three, Fesco, Gepco and Iesco, is to be sold between January and March next year, at least three months behind the earlier timetable. Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Islamabad are at the due diligence stage, a step the government expects to finish within three months.

The Central Monitoring Unit of the finance ministry put combined losses and subsidies for the 10 distribution companies at Rs850 billion in fiscal year 2025, including Rs299 billion in losses. The IMF has questioned whether the structure, which carves liabilities out of the companies being sold and keeps a uniform national tariff, can stop the losses. Officials countered that PIA was privatised on a similar model, and that its holding company's losses rose to Rs817 billion as of June this year.

The IMF also asked what lessons were learnt from K-Electric, the country's only privatised power entity, where Rs163 billion in subsidies remains in this fiscal year's budget. The Privatisation Commission said uniform tariffs will continue after privatisation and that investors have been informed of this. Sources said the approved structure would neither end the inefficiencies nor ease budget pressure after the sales.