Islamabad:
In an effort to alleviate the suffering of people affected by the worst floods during the decades, the government has decided to relieve electricity bills to consumers and asked for the head of the International Monetary Fund for this purpose.
The floods of three rivers have so far made millions of homeless people, in addition to damaging crops on 1.3 million acres in land. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the Ministry of Finance to contact the IMF and obtain his consent to relieve electricity bills in the areas damaged by current floods, according to government sources.
After the Prime Minister’s instructions, the ministry held a virtual meeting on Friday with the IMF and asked for its approval for the renunciation of bills, they added.
The Pakistani authorities asked the IMF to postpone invoices for three months on the grounds that similar emergency services were offered in 2022 in the areas affected by the floods. The IMF has sought more data than the division of the powers would provide during this week.
Sources have indicated that consumers in the Lahore Electricity Supply Company regions, Gujranwala Electric Power Company, Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company and Multan Electric Power Company were affected by the biblical deluge. Consumers from Sukkur Electric Power Company are also affected by floods.
The immediate concern is to resolve the issue of electricity bills for the month of August, which are now due, said Sardar Awais Laghari, federal minister of power while speaking to L’Express PK Press Club. He said that the electricity division collected data in the affected areas and it is only then that he will be able to assess the budgetary requirements to relieve.
The Prime Minister is very inclined to lighten the burden of electricity consumers in affected areas and soon an official announcement will be made in this regard, said Laghari.
The government was considering several options to provide relief. One of the options is to provide financial assistance through the Benazir income support program. But this limits awareness of all affected people. The other option is to provide a tax relief set for floods.
The serious floods in the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers have flooded large land, making millions of homeless people. Until now, the least affected districts include Gujarat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Bahawalpur.
Nearly 6,500 animals have already perished in floods and crops standing on 1.32 million acres of land were flooded. People have an urgent need for government help because they have lost both the refuge and the means of subsistence.
The government has already declared the agricultural emergency in the areas affected by the floods. The Prime Minister said that relief should be provided both in rural areas and in cities.
However, sources have indicated that the Punjab has not so far returned to observation of all 1.32 million land in damages. There is an opinion that certain cultures could be flooded and that the situation will be clear once the water is retreating.
Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister for Food and National Security, said this week that provincial governments would also work for land revenue for affected regions.
Tanveer said that once the surveys in the regions impacted by the floods are completed, a farmers’ support package will be announced. The survey should be concluded in mid-September, and the preliminary data indicate the loss of cultures in various regions, the Gujranwala division undergoing the highest damage, up to 18%. Rice fields, in particular, have undergone significant losses.
The IMF mission arrives in Pakistan by the third week of this month. The sources indicated that the Ministry of Finance examined the possibility of asking the IMF to relax the objectives of the primary budgetary surplus and the excess provincial cash.
The Ministry of Finance also worked on the farmers’ support package in accordance with a similar package given after the devastating floods in 2022, the sources said. They said Pakistan had a convincing case to find the relaxation of these tax targets for the current exercise due to a huge extent of losses.
A delegation of federal secretaries also visited this week the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) at the NDMA headquarters. The NDMA gave a briefing on the dominant monsoon situation and the response measures undertaken by the authority.
The floods had an impact on the supplies of perishable food. According to the weekly inflation bulletin of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the trend of the year illustrates a 5.03% increase in inflation this week compared to a year ago. It added a major increase in tomato prices, which jumped 91%, sugar 29.3%, 18.7%wheat flour, 15%pulses) and 12%beef,
However, on a weekly basis, the SPI for the current week ended on September 11, 2025 decreased slightly due to the 10% reduction in wheat flour prices after the Punjab government has taken corrective administrative measures.
