ISLAMABAD: The government, facing a liquidity crunch, is all set to announce two weekly holidays in its next cabinet meeting to stave off the rising petroleum bill, Finance Minister Naveed Qamar said during a chat with a select group of journalists here on Friday.

"This will help combat the escalating oil import bill, which is adversely affecting the current account deficit. We want to discourage the use of oil, especially high-speed diesel (HSD), in the country and two weekly holidays is a step in this regard."

The minister also hinted at reduction in the CNG price by Rs 6. However, he said a final decision will be taken by the Ogra very soon. The decision of two weekly holidays, the minister stressed, would be taken in line with the multi-pronged strategy the government had adopted to deal with the widening trade and fiscal deficits and the fast depleting foreign



reserves. Moreover, the government is also going to impose regulatory duty on the export of high-speed diesel to Afghanistan to offset the impact of subsidy it is extending on the HSD.

Apart from oil import, the government is also vigorously working to impose a sizeable duty on the import of non-essential and luxurious items to contain the overall import bill. "Duty has been imposed on the import of a lot of items. However, it would be well within the WTO-bound rates.”

The minister said the government had already placed 35 per cent duty on non-essential and luxury items. In addition, financing for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) has also been reduced by Rs 100 billion.

"The government, in a bid to reduce the current expenditure, has also placed a ban on all kinds of purchases. It has also imposed immediate ban on unnecessary official foreign tours and visits abroad and this directive also applies to visits by important people accompanying the prime minister. Unnecessary persons would not be included in the visits.

"It has also been decided not to accord approval to supplementary grants in a bid to contain the current expenditures well within the budgetary limits," the minister vowed. Explaining the massive cut of Rs 100 billion in the PSDP, the minister said it did not mean that the government would drop some development schemes. Rather, the said schemes would be funded either by the private sector or through the public-private partnership.

"The government will not borrow from the State Bank in future. It would utilise other tools to arrange capital for bridging the financing gap, including introduction of new instruments in the National Savings Schemes, floating of Treasury bills, etc."

The minister hoped to mop up Rs 100 billion from these measures. On the fast-depleting forex reserves, the minister said the government was mulling to float the Workers Remittances Securitisation Bond worth $750-800 million to provide cushion to the worsening foreign reverses situation.

"Besides, two installments each of $136 million from the UAE-based Etisalat against the PTCL privatisation proceeds are now overdue and the government is expecting $272 million, most probably in the next month."

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16776

where's your democracy now? Looks like Nawaz Sharif & Zardari's democracy dosen't give you money and no matter how much aid they get

2 days off for fuel saving, 1 day for hartal, 2 day due to shortage of electricty than we will have Kashmir, Musharaff & Zardari day per annum .. Add another 14 to 16 days of holidays / annum ...

I think in the end we would have working for 100 days & enjoying the remaining 265 days of the month !

Two days of holidays may decrease fuel consumption but will also slow down economy. The savings, in terms of cost, of fuel, will not be able to offset the economic slow down.

A very stupid move, imo.

i think who ever came up with this suggestion assumes that people stay home OR walk while not going to work :p

Professor Zardari is not finished yet.... on top of the two days holidays, petrol pumps will be closed on Fridays.... take that Pakistan!

http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/08/top1.htm

These people are hilarious, most people would encourage use of public transport, or walking to work, or turning off the lights... not in Pakistan, no.... we're going to stop working all together.

Also what is it with you guys are wearing trousers and suits? Surely in that weather Salwar Kameez makes more sense. The amount of people in jeans is hilarious.

This is a government of total fools. They have no idea what is going on.




http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/08/top4.htm





http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/08/top1.htm

5 day week is not bad, unless you work real hard from Monday to Friday.

They are also closing petrol pumps on Fridays. LOL.

real hard :) yeah the govt employees come at 12 and leave at 3 :) instead of 9-5.

Hah .... just like they said at the time when this govt was elected, that they would eliminate the power outages within two months of their coming to power!!?! Another false promise, another lie and another stalling tactic. Remember, crooks will be crooks, they will use every trick in the book to decieve you and make a fool out of you.

Link

Revenues from automobile sector to decline by 25pc

Wednesday, September 10, 2008
By Mansoor Ahmad

LAHORE: Automobile manufacturers and auto-parts’ vendors have warned the government that despite an additional levy of 5 per cent excise duty, the revenues from automobile sector would decline by over 25 per cent this year due to declining demand.

In a presentation made to the government, they pointed out that the industry paid Rs63 billion cumulative taxes that the government has levied on automobiles. This year, despite additional duty the sector would hardly contribute Rs50 billion in the national exchequer. The Pakistan Association of Auto Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAAPAM) and Pakistan Automobile Manufacturers Association (PAMA) in a joint presentation have suggested various steps that should be taken by the government to arrest the slow down in sales. The two associations appealed to the government to withdraw the 5 per cent excise duty on cars and impose a ban on import of used parts instead of allowing their import after imposing 30 per cent redemption duty.

They asked the government to place stringent checks on auto-parts imported commercially or as semi knock out kits. They proposed the introduction of non-tariff measures to curb the import of parts that are being manufactured in Pakistan. They pointed out that the 50 per cent duty has failed to stop the import of these parts as the import prices are easily manipulated by the importers. Moreover, import under SRO 63 attracting 50 per cent duty should not be allowed under FBR’s CARE system. They have also appealed for special incentives for the auto sector including lower mark-up on loans and a waiver of 35 per cent L/C margin.

They said that encouraged by the automobile growth from 2001-2007, the industry and the government of Pakistan fixed a target of over half million units’ production by the year 2011-12 that now seems out of reach. The manufacturers regretted that the industry has failed to achieve the targeted productions in 2006-07 when 1,95,688 cars were manufactured against a target of 2,26,620 units. However, there was some growth in production that year. In 2007-08 the production declined to 1,87,634 units against a projected target of 2,66,543 units. In the current fiscal year they said the production is expected to decline to 1,50,107 units that are half the projected target of 3,13,486 units. They said that there would be a decline of around 20 per cent in production over the production achieved in 2007-08.

Under the current scenario the two associations warn the production would decline to 1,12,778 units by 2011-12. The two associations pointed out that investment in the automobile sector has frozen at Rs98 billion and is expected to remain at the same level by 2011-12. They said that had things gone as planned, investment was projected to increase to Rs225 billion. They said even at the current high taxation, government revenues would decline from a peak of Rs63 billion to Rs38 billion.

There are 500 auto-parts manufacturers in the country that supply parts to original equipment manufacturers (PAMA members). Half of these units are in Lahore and adjoining cities while half are in Karachi and cities around it. Total gross sales of automobiles in Pakistan were Rs214 billion in 2006-07 or $2.67 billion, which is peanuts, when compared to the global automobile annual turnover of $460 billion.

The number of cars per 1000 persons in Pakistan is eight compared to 10 in China, 12 in India, 25 in Sri Lanka 641 in Malaysia and 765 in the United States.

The share of automobiles in Pakistan’s GDP is 2.8 per cent and its share in the manufacturing sector is 16 per cent.

That should further reduce the real (deflated) economic growth rate.

Looks like a recession that we are headed in to.

HAHAHAHAAH


Great democractic administrators are at it again.


Eventually they will shut down the entire country .... may be then they can fix it.

In Thailand, when they had fuel prices going way through the roof, they had asked petrol pumps to be closed by 10pm.

But closing pumps on Friday altogether, is bizarre. Who the fish is planning all this?

Monday-Friday work days is fine, maybe they should increase the working hours, and call off Saturday and Sunday.

They had a very similiar experiment in 1990s. It failed them. PPP apparently believe it succeded.

Link

Chashma plant closure to deepen power crisis

Thursday, September 11, 2008

By Hanif Khalid

ISLAMABAD: The ongoing power crisis is expected to deepen as the authorities concerned have decided to shut down the Chashma Nuclear Power Plant-I for five months, The News learnt here on Wednesday.

"The Chashma plant with capacity to generate 300 megawatt electricity previously remained shut for one month on account of annual maintenance but this year it is going to be closed for five months," an official source said, requesting anonymity.

The official said that the power plant was closed in the first week of August and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had decided to keep it closed up to December 31. He said the plant would be able to contribute 300-megawatt electricity to the national grid from January next.

"The plant has been closed for a period of five months for comprehensive maintenance and repair work after 10 years," the official said. "Pakistani engineers are working day and night with the assistance of the Chinese engineers to complete the necessary maintenance work," he added.

According to the official, the work on the construction of the second nuclear power plant at Chashma with the assistance of China was in full swing. He said that the country would produce more than 3,000-megawatt electricity through nuclear power plants.

Petrol price to be reduced by Rs 5
Thursday, September 11, 2008 Link

* Diesel prices to remain unchanged

By Zafar Bhutta

ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to reduce the price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre from September 15, following a global decline in oil prices.

Sources familiar with the development said prices of diesel and other petroleum products will remain unchanged because the government is already subsidising diesel and kerosene oil.

The government had increased the petroleum development levy (PDL) instead of passing on the global downward trend in oil prices to consumers. In a notice issued by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) on August 15, the government announced an increase in PDL from Rs 5.49 per litre to Rs 19.53 per litre on petrol and from Rs 7.82 per litre to Rs 20.73 per litre on HOBC.

The sources said the government was currently recovering Rs 19.65 per litre in PDL on the petrol that had been exempted from the tax when oil prices in the international market shot up to over $145 a barrel. The tax is being adjusted as cross-subsidy on diesel and kerosene oil, they said. The government claims it pays a subsidy of more than Rs 12 per litre on diesel and cannot reduce diesel prices until the subsidy is gradually ended.

Officials had told Daily Times last month the government was however charging a general sales tax of Rs 8.05 per litre on kerosene oil and Rs 7.79 per litre on light diesel.

A report by the Online news agency said the decision to reduce oil prices was made in a meeting between the prime minister and the federal cabinet. The petroleum sector is a major source of revenue for the government where consumers have no lobbying power. The sources said that the PDL was originally intended to provide investment funds for the development of the oil sector, but the government has been using it to bridge the budget deficit.

5 day working week is common in a lot of countries and it is a proven way of cutting commuting expanses for employees. What's wrong in it? You must be assuming that working hours/week will be reduced which is not the case IMO.

Friday close for pumps may be just an emergency measure to tide over impulsive weekend gataway by families in personal vehicles.

Link

It’s the early bird that gets the worm,but what about the early worm?

Saturday, September 13, 2008
By Kaleem Omar

I doubt whether there is any country in the world where there has been talk of bringing in a five-day working week in order to conserve electricity. Yet that is precisely the kind of talk we’re hearing in Pakistan these days. Whether this prescription will work is another matter. Chairman Mao may have said that power flows from the barrel of a gun, but the power he was referring to had nothing to do with electricity. If he’d waited for load-shedding in China to end before launching his revolution, there might never have been a People’s Republic of China. This is another way of saying that no revolution is likely to emerge from the musty corridors of KESC’s offices, or even WAPDA’s offices for that matter.

Be that as it may, Friday marks the end of the five-day working week in much of the world, with Saturday and Sunday lumped together to form what is known as the weekend. In France, they call it “le weekend” – to the fury of French language purists who see this as yet another example of their mother tongue being polluted by Americanisms.

The five-day working week presupposes that you’ve cleared your desk by Friday. In fact, the only one who got everything done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe. That’s why it is said that a man’s work is never done.

An advertising axiom, on the other hand, says: Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise. Another axiom holds that it’s the early bird that gets the worm, but what about the early worm? It’s the one that gets got, that’s what. The moral of the story is that if you must be the early worm, make sure there are no early birds about – otherwise you’ve got problems.

To help you avoid such problems, including the problem of trying to get everything done by Friday, here are some homilies for the unwary.

Field’s First Law of Success: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.

Sheetz’s Ruminations: (1) It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you place the blame. (2) A friend in need is a friend to avoid. (3) To err is human; to forgive is against company policy. (4) When it comes to giving, some people stop at nothing. (5) The way some people find fault with others, you’d think there was a reward. (6) Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those you do.

Zymurgy’s Law on the Availability of Volunteer Labour: People are always available for work in the past tense. I, for one, have nothing against work; I can watch other people doing it for hours. A sign above the main bar in the Delhi Gymkhana Club dating back to the days of the British Raj says: “Work is the enemy of the drinking classes.”

Zymurgy’s First Law of Evolving-System Dynamics: Once you open a can of worms, the only way to re-can them is to use a longer can. In America, everything comes out of a can. In fact, there are people there who believe that even happiness comes out of a can. That’s why the canning industry in America is so big. Nobel Prize-winning American novelist John Steinbeck even wrote a novel about it called “Cannery Row.” The movie version starred Nick Nolte and Deborah Winger.

Mesikimen’s Law: There’s never time to do it right, but always time to do it over. Some people have been doing the same thing over and over again for years. It’s one way of avoiding doing anything new. But imagine working in a factory counting toasters coming off the assembly line. After the millionth toaster, you’d be a candidate for the loony bin.

Davidson’s Law of Inquiry: People ask stupid questions for a reason. Some people, however, are so dumb they’d be stuck for an answer if you said hello. Canada’s first poet laureate, George Bowering, 65, who has won the Governor General’s award twice and has written 50 books, one famously remarked, “The best thing about Canada is that it is not this. It is this and that.” Life’s a bit like that. It’s a bit of this and a bit of that.

Thurber’s Law: There’s no safety in numbers, or anything else. There are numbers and numbers, however. American billionaire J. Paul Getty was once asked what was the secret of his business success. “Buy cheap, sell expensive,” he replied – encapsulating in those four words what four years at the Harvard Business School won’t teach you.

Robbins Rules of Marketing: (1) Your share of the market is really lower than you think. (2) The combined market position goals of all competitors always equals at least 150 per cent. (3) The existence of a market does not ensure the existence of a customer. This is something that our Export Promotion Bureau needs to remember when it talks of new markets for Pakistani exports. (4) Beware of alleged needs that have no market. (5) Low price and long shipment win over high price and short shipment. (6) If you can’t get the whole job, settle for part of it. (7) The number of competitors never declines. (8) Secret negotiations are usual neither. (9) If the customer wants vanilla, give him vanilla. (10) If the customer buys lunch, you’ve lost the order. (11) Unless constantly nurtured, nothing is as short-lived as a good customer. (12) No matter how good the deal, the customer is always sceptical. (13) The worth of a thing is what it will bring. Look at it this way: If you owned a diamond that was so expensive nobody could afford to buy it, it would, in effect, be worth nothing.

White’s Observation of Committee Operation: People very rarely think in groups; they talk together, they exchange information, they adjudicate, they make compromises. But they do not think; they do not create. A committee can make a decision that is dumber than any of its members. Hence, the old adage: A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

Martin-Berthelot’s Principle: Of all possible committee reactions to any given agenda item, the action that will occur is the one which will liberate the greatest amount of hot air. Sometimes, there’s so much hot generated you could even hold a hot-air-balloon race with it. On the subject of balloons, though, I am reminded of the time during the Zia years when Malcolm Forbes, the founder of America’s Forbes magazine, came to this country with a hot air balloon in the shape of the Minar-e-Pakistan. With much fanfare, he had the balloon inflated at the Jinnah Bagh grounds in Karachi. But no sooner was the balloon up than it collapsed. That was the era of press advices, and the government promptly issued a press advice saying that newspapers were not to print any pictures of the collapsed balloon. Yes, those were the days.

Steiner’s Postulates: (1) In business, as well as in chess, the winner is the one who makes the next to last mistake. (2) At business meetings, the one unmatched asset is the ability to yawn with your mouth closed. Some people have yawned their way to the top. (3) Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. (4) Trivial matters take up more time because we know more about them than important matters. (5) The effort expended by a bureaucracy in defending any error is in direct proportion to the size of the error.

Dalgish’s Law: Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment. That’s why it’s better to be lucky than smart. “Give me a general who’s lucky,” said Napoleon.

Stovall’s Law of Negative Inaction: The only thing wrong with doing nothing is that you never know when you’ve finished. So do something, even if it’s nothing much.

Linton’s Laws: (1) Growth is directly proportionate to promises made; profit is inversely proportionate to promises kept. (2) An accurate determination of the depth of the well cannot be made by measuring the pump handle. (3) A picture is worth a thousand words; a slide show is both. That’s why people making business presentations these days are very big on slide shows, especially when they really haven’t got anything of substance to say. Beware of slide shows.

Cannon’s Cogent Comment: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tyre, the next morning you will have a flat tyre. A corollary to this law says: If you come up with a lemon, make lemonade.

Gresham’s Law: Trivial matters are handled promptly; important matters are never solved. If you think this isn’t true, ask any bureaucrat. If he’s frank about it, he will tell you he’s made a whole career out of handling trivial matters and shelving important matters. That’s why the pile of unsolved important matters is now reaching the roof in the corridors of power in Islamabad.

Couvier’s Law: There’s nothing more frightening than ignorance in action. A case in point is the actions of US President George W. Bush, aka the Bomber of Afghanistan and the Bomber of Baghdad. Someone should tell him to make sure the brain is engaged before putting the mouth in gear. It’s just as well that American presidents are limited to two terms. I don’t think the world could survive another Bush term.

Diesel, kerosene up by Rs3.50, petrol down by Rs5 per litre
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Link

By Khalid Mustafa

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday increased prices of diesel and kerosene oil by Rs3.50 per litre each but reduced the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre.

In an apparent balancing act, the government reduced the petrol price by Rs5 per litre. But it will not make any difference as the consumption of petrol stands at just 155,000 metric tones (one billion litres) per month, while the country consumes 700,000 metric tonnes (nine billion litres) of diesel a month.

It means that the Rs3.50 per litre raise in diesel and kerosene oil would have a more adverse impact on the masses if compared to the volume of relief given in the petrol price.Under a notification, the price of petrol (motor spirit) was reduced by Rs5 per litre, from Rs86.66 to Rs81.66. However, the price of kerosene oil has increased by Rs3.50 per litre to Rs61.86 from Rs58.37. Likewise, the price of LDO also increased by Rs3.50 per litre to Rs60 from Rs56.50.

An Ogra spokesman said the price of motor spirit has been reduced by Rs5 per litre keeping in view the current declining trend in the international crude oil prices.

The prices of kerosene and LDO have, however, been increased by Rs3.50 per litre in view of the fact that these products have been heavily subsidised for a long time. This subsidy has resulted in accumulation of large price differential claims payable to the OMCs and refineries by the federal government. Even after this increase, the government continues to provide a subsidy of Rs10.93 per litre and Rs9.49 per litre on kerosene and LDO, respectively.

The price of High Speed Diesel has also gone up by Rs3.50 per litre and the subsidy after this increase will be Rs9.42 per litre.However, when contacted, Petroleum Secretary GA Sabri said the volume of subsidy on diesel would now be reduced from Rs13.62 per litre to Rs9 per litre with the decision.

Sabri, however, defended the decision of increase in kerosene oil by mentioning that the price of kerosene oil has increased in the international market. He refused to subscribe the argument that kerosene oil is mostly used by the poor masses.

Market sources when contacted said the government wants to abolish the subsidy on diesel by December 2008 and bring the prices equal to petrol prices.It is pertinent to mention that the price of Arabian light crude which Pakistan imports have reduced to $87 per barrel as per the latest figures obtained by oil industry sources. Industry sources said according to one estimate, 30 per cent petrol is used by middle or lower middle class in their motorbikes. So it is unjustified to say that reduction in petrol does not make any difference.

“Once the subsidy gets abolished, the government would fully pass the impact of fluctuations to be taken place in international oil market to end consumers,” one of the top officials at the petroleum ministry seeking anonymity told The News.

He said with the recent reduction in oil prices in the international market, the government gets benefit of Re1 on one litre of diesel and the raise of Rs3.50 per litre in its prices would enable the government to reduce the subsidy of Rs13.62 to Rs9 on one litre diesel.On the other hand, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) are facing severe liquidity crunch and they have informed the government that they were unable to supply oil and the country may witness severe diesel crisis in November.

The government owes Rs80 billion as price differential claim to the OMCs and it still seems reluctant to clear the dues because of fiscal constraints.According to industry sources, the OMCs are sustaining Rs1.32 per litre financing cost on import of one litre of diesel, as the companies are now borrowing from banks on 14 per cent interest rates to continue importing POL products in the country.

Related News

Oil Prices Sink Briefly under $90 !
16/09/2008 | Staff Writers Link

LONDON (AFP) — World oil prices dipped briefly beneath 90 dollars a barrel Tuesday on growing economic gloom that was likely to further dampen demand for energy in the months ahead, traders said.

OPEC on Tuesday cut its world oil demand growth forecast for 2008 to 1.02 percent from 1.17 percent previously, in the face of falling demand already occurring in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of energy.

The price of crude oil has now plunged by almost 40 percent since striking record highs above 147 dollars per barrel in July.

London's Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November tumbled as low as 89.80 dollars per barrel in Asian trading. The new November contract later stood at 91.34, down 2.90 dollars. The October contract had expired Monday at 92.38.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, dived 2.79 dollars to 92.92 dollars a barrel.

Deepening worries about a slowdown in energy demand "are likely to haunt energy markets in the near term, while another collapse in a major financial institutions, or even (ailing US insurer) AIG, could cause an even broader sell-off in commodities," Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said on Tuesday.

Oil prices had tumbled by more than five dollars on Monday amid global market jitters after Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed and financial developments stoked concerns about the health of the US economy.

US banking titan Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy Monday after failing to find a buyer and collapsed under losses related to the US subprime home loan crisis and housing market slump.

In another sign of the deepening housing-related credit crisis, Bank of America announced it was buying Merrill Lynch for 50 billion dollars in stock, scooping up the battered Wall Street icon.

In the insurance sector, investors fled American International Group (AIG) on fears the US insurance giant could be the next domino to fall in the worst banking crisis to shake Wall Street since the Great Depression.

Amid falling demand for energy meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- producer of 40 percent of the world's oil -- last week cut its output in a move aimed at preventing a further drop in crude prices.

Govt may give up idea of two weekly holidays

ISLAMABAD: The government is mulling to give up the idea of two weekly holidays, as some other options for energy conservation are being considered instead of five working days a week, The News has learnt.

One of the options is to reduce use in peak seasons by increasing prices of electricity in summer and gas prices in winter in order to better manage resources.
The Punjab government as well as business leaders have opposed the idea of two weekly holidays to conserve energy. “The government has started thinking to reverse this move of two weekly holidays and come up with alternative options for achieving desired results,” an official told The News here on Wednesday.

Sources said that the decision of two weekly holidays was unlikely to be enforced by the incumbent regime owing to fierce opposition from various stakeholders including chambers of commerce and industries.

When Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Salman Farooqi was asked in this regard, he said that although the federal cabinet has agreed, in principle, to two weekly holidays subject to approval of the Punjab government. “But we have started thinking again to come up with alternative options instead of announcing two weekly holidays,” he added.

He concluded that the business community has conveyed to the government that two weekly holidays would negatively impact their production target, which forced the government to reconsider about the option for going ahead with two holidays in week.

Pakistan’s oil import bill swelled to $12 billion during the last financial year 2007-08, which could go up to $14.5 billion by the end of the ongoing financial year. Owing to growing imbalance of external front, the government is curtailing POL imports.

A senior official of the Finance Ministry showed the scribe a working paper, which had a number of energy conservation plans including two weekly holidays.

Ministry of Finance has proposed to the government to shut down petrol pumps for one day in week in order to ensure demand management of the POL products.

But an official of Planning Commission was of the view that there should be rationing of POL products rather than closing down of petrol pumps for one day in week.

In a country like Pakistan, the closure of petrol pumps for one day does not seem feasible. Citing examples, the official said if there is any emergency in remote part of the country and petrol is not available due to holiday it will result into violent protests.

The government can restrict vehicles from filling more than 15 to 20 litre of petrol from one petrol pump, which will discourage use of POL products to some extent. In Iran there is rationing of petrol and no one can get more than 20 litres from one pump. Iran is net exporter of crude oil, as it has no oil refineries.

The Finance Ministry also proposed to the Prime Minister to switch off one-third bulbs of the Prime Minister House and the same request should be made to the President before asking the people of Pakistan for contributing towards energy conservation.

It was also told to the Prime Minister that the recently nominated IMF resident chief told a Pakistani official that when he saw excessive lighting in the federal capital, he wondered if the country was facing severe load shedding. There should be no marriage functions in night as well as the last show of cinema should also be done away with immediate effect, the paper proposed.