ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday stated in the cabinet meeting that the deficit would nearly double next year unless infrastructure challenges were phased out through the cooperation of the related stakeholders, especially Sindh.
At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) chaired by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the energy ministry reported an increase in gas shortages due to a decrease of about 7 percent in domestic gas output and a 5 percent increase in usage compared to last year, effectively creating a 12 percent difference between supply and demand.
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Government officials said, “this was despite ongoing low economic growth rate,” due to the lack of gas exploration over the past 10 years, gas production had declined by 7pc, while demand had risen by 5pc per year, resulting in a shortage of nearly 270 million cubic feet per day in December 2019.
To fix the deficit, in November 2019, the government decided to build additional terminals and five new private terminals were awarded, while the process for a dedicated pipeline of more than 1,200mmcfd needed to transport imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from these terminals to the northern areas of the country would also start soon.
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