IPP research report: Load-shedding ‘cost nation Rs1.5t’

The loss amounts to 7% of GDP, says Dr Hafiz Pasha.

ISLAMABAD:

The country has suffered an estimated loss of Rs1.5 trillion in the financial year 2011-12 due to chronic load shedding, according to a first of its kind study conducted by the Institute of Public Policy.

To put this loss into context, the losses come to around 7% of the total size of the economy, according to former finance minister Dr Hafiz Pasha.

Giving a breakdown, Pasha said the research conducted on 1,500 units established that the industrial sector was bearing Rs564 billion annual losses due to load shedding. He said the commercial sector sustained Rs472 billion losses. The domestic consumers were experiencing Rs240 billion annual losses and the agriculture sector Rs163 billion losses, he added.

Pasha also shared the finding of his unpublished report that studied the basic threats to human security in Pakistan. The ‘three freedoms’ from fear, loss of dignity and  lack of fulfillment of basic needs are essential for preserving human security in the country, according to the findings of an unpublished report.



The study on Human Security in Pakistan was conducted by the Mahbubul Haq Human Development Centre on behalf of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It was expected to be the national Human Development Report for the year 2012. The report was prepared by national experts. It could not see the light of day after the then government refused to allow the report’s publication, said Dr Hafiz Pasha, the co-author of the report.

“Through our work we wanted to tell the world how much the war on terror has affected the lives of the people of Pakistan,” said Pasha. He said the report also included the estimates of cost of terrorism and violence.

Not only barring the Centre from publishing its work, the previous government as well as the new PML-N government deleted the chapter of war on terror from the Economic Survey of Pakistan. According to official unpublished estimates, in monetary terms, the country suffered almost $100 billion losses since September 2001.

Pasha said people are also now more worried about meeting their basic daily needs. He said due to deterioration in social and economic conditions every year five million people were becoming poor.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2013.