Economic Survey | Pakistan

LAHORE: Although the country’s total installed power generation capacity is set to rise to 46,605 megawatts in the outgoing fiscal year (FY25), substantial capacity payments to idle power plants continue to burden electricity consumers nationwide. However, energy experts in both the public and private sectors remain optimistic that this capacity payment burden — estimated at Rs12 to Rs15 per unit and passed on to consumers — will gradually decline, as the government has halted new power projects and terminated power purchase agreements (PPAs) with several independent power producers (IPPs). “The issue of capacity payments is not considered very painful during summer, but it becomes more significant in winter when our total electricity demand drops to just 12,000-13,000 MW,” a senior official at the Ministry of Energy told Dawn on Monday. According to the Economic Survey, the country’s total installed electricity generation capacity reached 46,605MW, with the energy mix comprising hydel (24.4 per cent), therma...

ISLAMABAD: The cumulative expenditure on education by the federation and the provinces remained merely 0.8 per cent of the Grand Domestic Product (GDP) while the country’s literacy rate was a little above 60 per cent, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2024-25. The segregated data showed that the literacy rate was 60.6pc, with men at 68pc compared to 52.8pc among women. During the first three quarters of the ongoing financial year, the education-related spending decreased 29.4 per cent, dropping to Rs899.6 billion from Rs1,251.06 billion. The position may increase by June as the expenditure data is only available for July-March, said the survey. The cumulative education expenditures by the federal and provincial governments in FY 2025 were estimated at 0.8pc of the GDP compared to 0.9pc in the health sector. In the development budget for this financial year, Rs92.1 billion were earmarked for the education sector, including higher education. The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training...

PTI rejects Economic Survey as 'IMF script'

The federal government will unveil the Economic Survey of Pakistan for the fiscal year 2024–25 today (Monday), ahead of the upcoming federal budget.