Pakistan raises power prices amid energy crisis despite rampant inflation

Pakistan on Tuesday raised electricity prices to match rising generation costs amid a global energy crisis and a heatwave, even as the country grapples with its highest inflation in over a decade, the power minister said.

Inflation last month reached 21.3%, driven mainly by rising food costs, and the country also faces fast-depleting foreign reserves, a depreciating currency and widening current account deficit.

“Cabinet has approved an increase in electricity tariffs but lifeline (poor) consumers will not be affected,” Power Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan told reporters in Islamabad, adding that the increase would not apply to them.