Islamabad:
In an attempt to mitigate the suffering of the people affected by the worst flood in decades, the government has decided to relieve relief in electricity bills to consumers and sought the NIKK of the International Monetary Fund for this purpose.
The floods in three rivers have so far made millions of people homeless in addition to damaging crops on 1.3 million acres of land. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the Ministry of Finance to reach the IMF and get his consent to give relief in electricity bills in the areas damaged by the ongoing floods, according to government sources.
Following the prime minister’s instructions, the ministry held a virtual meeting with the IMF on Friday and sought its endorsement to waive the bills, they added.
The Pakistani authorities requested the IMF to postpone the bills for three months on the grounds that similar relief had been offered in 2022 in the flooded affected areas. The IMF has searched more data that Power Division would provide within this week.
Sources said consumers in the Lahore Electricity Supply Supply Supply Company, Gujranwala Electric Power Company, Faisalabad Electricity Supply Supply and Multan Electric Power Company have been adversely affected by Bible flood. There are chances that consumers of SUKKUR Electric Power Company will also be affected by the floods.
The immediate concern is to tackle the question of the electricity bills for the month of August, which is now due, said Sardar Awais Laghari, federal minister of power while talking to Express Pakinomist. He said that the Power Division collected the data in the affected areas, and only then will it be able to assess the fiscal requirements to provide relief.
The Prime Minister is very likely to facilitate the burden of power consumers in the affected areas, and soon a formal message will be made in this regard, Laghari said.
The government was considering several opportunities to provide relief. One of the options is to provide financial assistance through the Benazir Income Support program. But it limits the search to all the people affected. The other option is to give flood -relief -finance policy package.
The serious flood in the chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers has flooded large countries, making millions of people homeless. So far, the hardest hit districts include Gujarat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Bahawalpur.
Nearly 6,500 animals have already died in the floods and the standing crops of 1.32 million acres have been flooded. People have a great need for government help as they have lost both shelter and livelihood.
The government has already declared agricultural emergency in the flooding areas affected. The Prime Minister has instructed the relief to be delivered in both rural and cities.
However, sources said that Punjab did not so far claim the flood of as much as 1.32 million countries as a replacement for the crops. There is a perception that some of the crops may only be flooded and the situation will be clear when the water goes back.
Rana Tanveer Hussain, federal minister of food and national security, said this week that the provincial governments would also work to waive land revenue for affected regions.
Tanveer stated that once there are investigations of the flood -in -being regions are complete, a farmer’s support package will be announced. The study is expected to end in mid-September, and preliminary data indicates loss of crops across different areas where the Gujranwala division experiences the highest damage, up to 18%. Especially rice fields have suffered significant losses.
The IMF mission is coming to Pakistan in the third week of this month. The sources said the Ministry of Finance underwent the opportunity to request the IMF to relax the goals of the primary budget surplus and the provincial cash surplus.
The Ministry of Finance also worked on the farmer’s support package in line with a similar package given after the devastating floods of 2022, the sources said. They said Pakistan has a compelling case to seek relaxation in these fiscal goals for the current financial year due to huge size of the losses.
A delegation of federal secretaries also visited the National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) in the NDMA headquarters this week. NDMA gave a briefing on the prevailing Monsun situation and the response measures taken by the authority.
The floods have affected the supplies of the perishable foods. According to Weekly Inflation Bulletin from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, depicts the year of the age of 5.03% in inflation this week compared to a year ago. It added larger increase is observed in the prices of tomatoes that burst 91%, sugar 29.3%, wheat flour 18.7%, pulses 15%) and beef 12%,
On a weekly basis, however, on the current week on September 11, 2025, the SPI fell slightly due to 10% reduction in the prices of wheat flour after the Punjab government took some corrective administrative measures.
