Pakistani civil servants return to the five-day week, against six previously. The government has indeed taken a series of measures to save electricity against the backdrop of a national shortage, alert Dawn. Foreign travel by Pakistani officials will also be drastically restricted as part of the austerity measures. In addition, “the Prime Minister has formed a committee to assess the advantages and disadvantages of a shift to teleworking on Fridays”, specifies the Pakistani daily. Marriyum Aurangzeb, the Minister of Information, quoted by Dawn, said :
“The decision to reinstate the Saturday holiday will save $386 million a year.”
The transition to the six-day working week was decided by the new Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, shortly after taking office on April 11, underlines the English-language daily. The government would also work with local authorities to reduce public lighting, for example by switching on only one in two streetlights.
“The electricity deficit in the country has reached 6,530 megawatts with a total electricity generation of around 20,170 megawatts and a total demand of 26,700 megawatts: this is causing prolonged power outages across the country,” warns The Nation. Power cuts of up to fourteen hours are underway in different parts of the country, while temperatures can easily reach 40 C° in this season. Even the city of Islamabad is not spared and can suffer power cuts that can last up to six hours, warns the Pakistani media.
A bill multiplied by two
“Pakistan gets the majority of its electricity from power plants fueled by imported natural gas, the price of which has skyrocketed in recent months as Europe struggles to source supplies outside of Russia,” Explain Quartz. Pakistan is almost entirely dependent on imports for crude oil. As a result, the country’s energy bill has doubled over the past ten months.