ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF PAKISTAN'S POWER CRISIS

[mithumoti]

ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF PAKISTAN'S POWER CRISIS



As a student of economics I have tried to at the economic effects of Pakistan's electricity shortage crisis.


None availability of electric power means either none availability of essential goods and services or the incurring of additional costs by the providers of these goods and services thus fueling inflation by increasing the costs of these goods and services.


Those who opt for self generation contribute to the increase of Pakistan's import bill of POL products.


Export Industries running on electric power fail to meet their shipment deadlines. Their cost of per unit production also increases due to the cost of self generation.

[Ahmed Nisar]

You are just touching the tip of the iceberg.



Due to prolonged absence of electricity in Karachi, refrigerators and Freezers have become almost useless for people who do not have generators.


To drink cold water they need to buy ice.


Since ice plants run on generators for more than half the day, the cost of ice has become spine chilling.


Further, the quality of ice being sold is anyone's guess. People are getting sick using ice made from contaminated water. See. Visits to doctors, costs of medicine, treatment, hospitalization, etc, etc.


Flour mills either run on generators or just run when electricity is available. The result, increase in cost of flour, as well as shortage of supply.



Just two examples out of thousand one can think of . . .

[rabeea]

The economic costs of power-shortage are all-embracing. There is no economic sector or activity that is not affected adversely.



Self-generation is actually no answer to this power shortage. It is simply a stop-gap measure and a debilitating one.


Apart from those generators which run on natural gas, the cost of self-generation is prohibitive. Diesel and petrol both are avery expensive here.


I have noticed that retail establishments who use generators during load-shedding or other power outages are passing on the increased expense of running their establishments to the customers.


All this is increasing the hardships of the fixed income groups in the country, who are already crushed under the burden of too many indirect taxes, in addition to the high rate of income-tax, deducted at source.