General Economic Updates

Exporters begging to get electricity and water connection, while there is a surplus of capacity and the public is being made to pay capacity charges for idle plants:

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Every 6th Rupee paid by the taxpayers is consumed by ailing SOEs

Let's expand this and include unfunded liabilities, a fiscal time bomb, not just on today's taxpayers, but future generations, due to a lack of reforms.

These unfunded liabilities will include public-sector pensions, healthcare obligations, social safety net programs, and guarantees of SOE debt. Future promises with no money set aside.
 
Don’t want to hijack the thread & digress from the great discussion, but let me say that there’s no reality in which Bangladesh has a higher GDP than Pakistan. Pakistan, for reasons known only to it, under-documents its economy. The Pakistani economy is much bigger than the official numbers will tell you. Anyone that’s visited South Asia will tell you this.

Is that so? Does Pakistan also under-document its export and earning figures? Maybe Pakistan army has a huge Forex reserve hidden somewhere.
 

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports surge 31.4% to $1.139bn in first seven months of FY2025–26

  • Total value of mobile phone imports stands at Rs 321.137 billion
Tahir Amin Published about 3 hours ago
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Pakistan imported mobile phones $1.139 billion in the first seven month (July-January) of current fiscal year 2025-26 compared to $867.685 million during the same period of last year, registering a growth of over 31.36 percent growth.


Official data revealed that in terms of rupees, the total value of mobile phone imports stood at Rs 321.137 billion during July-January 2025-26 compared to Rs 241.330 billion, registering 33.07 percent growth.


On a Month-on-Month (MoM) basis, Pakistan’s mobile phone imports saw a 12.60 percent growth, totaling $179.380 million in January 2026, compared to $159.304 million in December 2025. Year on year mobile imports witnessed a 33.62 percent growth when compared to $134.243 million in January 2025.


READ MORE: FY 2025-26: Mobile phones worth USD 500.011m imported in QI


Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1.494 billion in the last fiscal year 2024-25, registering a fall of 21.31 per cent compared to $1.898 billion during the previous year, 2023-24.


In terms of Pakistani rupees, the total value of mobile phone imports stood at Rs 417.351 billion during fiscal year 2024-25. This represents a 22.09 percent decline when compared to Rs535.690 billion in the same period of 2023-24.


Overall telecom imports into Pakistan stood at $2.099 billion during fiscal year 2024-25, reflecting a negative growth of 11.30 percent when compared to $2.366 billion during the same period of 2023-24.

READ MORE: Local mobile phone production hits 30.21mn units in 2025


The local manufacturing/ assembling plants manufactured/ assembled 30.21 million mobile handsets during the calendar year (January-December) 2025 compared to 2.37 million imported commercially.


Official data revealed that 2.61 million mobile handsets were manufactured/ assembled in December 2025 against 0.33 million imported commercially.
The local manufacturing/ assembling plants manufactured/ assembled 30.21 million mobile handsets included 15.64 million smart phones and 14.57 million 2G phones.


Besides, as per the PTA data, 71 per cent of mobile devices are smartphones, and 29 per cent are 2G on the Pakistan network.

 

Pakistan’s power generation up 12.1% YoY in January 2026, records highest output​

News Desk18/02/2026
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Pakistan’s power generation surged by 12.1% year‑on‑year (YoY) in January 2026, reaching a new record high of 9,140 GWh, compared to 8,153 GWh in January 2025. This performance was boosted by strong contributions from RLNG and imported coal, despite challenges in hydel and nuclear generation.

The increase was largely driven by a 29.8% rise in RLNG‑based generation, which stood at 2,002 GWh, and a significant 127.3% increase in imported coal generation, which reached 1,580 GWh. The demand for power and reduced output from hydel and nuclear sources contributed to the higher reliance on RLNG and imported coal.

The decline in hydel and nuclear output was notable. Hydel generation fell 17.7% YoY, and nuclear generation dropped 26.3% YoY, primarily due to reduced output from key plants. Additionally, the use of furnace oil (FO) increased, with a 151% YoY rise, contributing 274 GWh to the generation mix.

Despite these challenges, the overall power generation exceeded the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) reference levels, and improved economic activity, along with a shift of industrial consumers to the national grid, helped sustain the growth trend.

The cost of power generation in January 2026 stood at PKR 12.18 per kWh, higher than the reference cost of PKR 10.40 per kWh. Consequently, Distribution Companies (DISCOs) have requested a positive fuel charge adjustment (FCA) of PKR 1.78 per kWh.

Looking ahead, power generation is expected to remain stable, with NEPRA projecting a 1.0% YoY increase in power demand for the year 2026.
 

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