Circular debt

The debt crisis that the country faces involves not only money owed to international businesses and concerns, but also circular debt, which is crippling our own power producing units. This debt has risen to a massive more than Rs2 trillion over the past two years. The question here for consumers is: why has the government not been able to control the problem better? It is easy for ministers to blame previous governments for these issues. But now looking ahead, it is the PTI which must act and take measures to solve the problems the country faces.

The circular debt problem takes away stability from the system and leaves it on shaky grounds. There are also warnings that in the coming years the central power collection agency may face debt, which is five times more than the sum at present. This would make it almost impossible to run the power sector. The government has claimed it has been able to bring down the rate of electricity theft, improve billing and effectively tackle other issues which affect the efficient distribution of power. However, there is no real evidence of this as far as consumers are concerned. They must still deal with massive bills and often long shortages of power. It is uncertain whether the IPPs that the government talks about are going to go into place at the right time, or if the circular debt and production problems are likely to continue to increase step by step as the years go by. This would make things harder for both consumers and the government.

It is time for the PTI to stop blaming all the problems of the country on past regimes, and adopt policies which can truly bring about change. There is no purpose in looking at the past. Only if there are signs of a better future will people be satisfied and willing to accept that the government is working for them. At present, we also have a massive problem between K-Electric and the SNGPL. There are many other similar matters. We have seen them before. But the task of government is to find a way to resolve the issues so that more equality and stability can be developed within a system which seems to be perilously close to collapse.