As the economic crisis deepens and debt continues to increase in Pakistan the federal and provincial governments of the country have unanimously decided to shut markets by 8 PM across the country.
The decision has been taken as part of the country’s efforts to conserve energy, said Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
Iqbal informed about the decision while addressing the media after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Iqbal said Chief Ministers of Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participated in the meeting while the planning minister of Balochistan represented the provincial government.
Pakistan Economic Crisis: Planning Minister Says Move Will Save USD1 billion Annually
Pakistan’s Planning Minister further said that the initiative could save around $1 billion annually. Informing that the representatives of provincial governments were present in the NEC meeting, the Minister said that they had been advised to get it implemented to save precious resources.
Iqbal further said energy had become a big challenge for Pakistan and the government would reduce dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil and give due focus on energy conservation.
The Minister stated that the government would promote green energy including solar, hydel, and wind and no new imported fuel-based project would be introduced.
Earlier in January, the Pakistan government had approved a new energy conservation plan under which markets and malls were supposed to be closed by 8.30 PM. The Cabinet also banned the usage of inefficient appliances to save around 62 billion PKR annually.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the authorities concerned to cut the usage of electricity by all departments of the federal government by 30 per cent.
The coalition government had claimed that measures approved by the cabinet aim to save the cash-strapped country about 62 billion PKR and help reduce the energy import bill.
However, the measures were never fully implemented across the country.
