The government of Pakistan has raised natural gas tariffs by up to 172% for various consumer categories, including domestic consumers, captive power plants, IPPs, and commercial sectors. These new prices took effect from 1 November 2023. This significant increase was implemented to meet the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which urged the government to raise gas tariffs as a measure to address the circular debt issue in the gas sector.
This is the second gas tariff increase in 2023, following an earlier hike in January, which saw tariffs go up by up to 112%. For the protected category, which represents about 57% domestic gas connections, the tariff was kept unchanged, but fixed charges were multiplied by 40, from PKR10/month (US$3.6c/month) to PKR400/month (US$1.4/month). Gas accounts for about 27% of Pakistan’s primary energy mix.