Pakistan has enough energy supplies to last through Nov: Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told AFP on Saturday that Pakistan has lined up sufficient energy stocks to cover needs until November, Business Recorder reported. Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, he said the country had absorbed the initial price shock from the Iran war without major disruption. Attention has now shifted to winter, when household consumption typically rises.

Aurangzeb called attacks on Saudi Arabian and Gulf energy sites worrying for the country's long-term economic path. Houthi forces in Yemen have repeatedly struck Saudi energy facilities and airports in recent days as the civil war there flared again. He said that if such infrastructure keeps getting hit, a return to normal conditions will take longer, even if the fighting subsides. Spot LNG cargoes, which typically cost more than contracted shipments, will only be bought in dire need.

On fiscal matters, Aurangzeb said the government is targeting sales tax that businesses collected from consumers but never deposited in state accounts, a loss running into billions of dollars. He added that income tax collection has room to improve and acknowledged pushback against reforms from industry, lobby groups and entrenched interests. He also denied that military-run businesses receive funds from the exchequer.