Islamabad: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar arrived Medina Munawwarah on a private visit on

Governor of Medina Faisal Bin Salman warmly welcomed him at the Shahi Terminal of Medina Airport along with the Ambassador of Pakistan Ahmed Farooq, senior officials of Pakistani Embassy and Consulate General in Jeddah.

Caretaker PM @anwaar_kakar arrived #MedinaMunawwarah@PakPMO @ForeignOfficePk @PakinJeddah #RadioPakistan #News https://t.co/R41WcHP0KP pic.twitter.com/pFNkhAvu9f

— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) September 27, 2023

The Prime Minister will leave for Makkah to perform umrah on Thursday.

Karachi: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has hiked power tariff for K-Electric consumers on monthly fuel adjustment charges on Wednesday.

According to details, after the federal government granted NEPRA's request for a rise in power rate, the price of energy has increased by Rs 1.48 to Rs 4.45.

The higher power cost will be paid by K-electric customers in the months of October and November 2023.

In addition, the price of electricity increased by Rs. 1.48 for users of 300 units, by Rs. 3.21 for customers of more than 300 units, and by Rs. 4.45 for consumers of 5 kilowatts and e-vehicle charging stations.

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has already authorized the rise in power users' unit prices by Rs 0.46.

The power regulatory body authorized the increase in the power tariff under fuel adjustment charges (FAC) for the month of July in accordance with the notification that was published.

The notification stated that the surge in power tariff would be applied to the bills of September, meanwhile, the hike will not be applicable to Lifeline and K Electric customers.

It is important to note that distribution companies (DISCOs) power invoices had inconsistencies when the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) noticed them.

A high-level committee was established, according to the official announcement, to investigate the effectiveness of DISCOs.

The NEPRA communique stated that the committee was constituted because of the recent irregularities in the electricity billing and will present a comprehensive report within one month.

Islamabad: Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar on Wednesday urged provinces to play their due role in improving social services, ensuring food security and stabilizing prices by minimizing gap between the whole-sale and retail prices of essential commodities.

She was speaking at a meeting held in a hybrid format on Wednesday with provincial finance ministers in attendance.

The Finance Minister further said policy and fiscal coordination between the federal and provincial governments is pivotal for the economic prosperity and sustainable growth.  She underscored that there is a huge potential for rationalizing the public expenditure arrangements between the federal and provincial governments for promoting efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure, as well as prioritization for speedy and smooth implementation of the projects under public sector development programs, with emphasis on social protection.

She underlined that the corrective measures in rationalizing the public expenditure arrangements between the federal and provincial governments would not only result in substantive savings but would also contribute in improving the effectiveness and implementation of the projects in the priority sectors of education and health.

While sensitizing the provincial finance Ministers regarding the expenditure and revenue targets in the current fiscal year, Dr. Akhtar encouraged the provincial governments to ensure achieving these targets, so that the primary budget deficit targets can be achieved.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister Sindh, Finance Ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, besides the Federal and provincial Finance Secretaries, Federal Secretary Planning, as well as senior government officials.

The meeting was aimed at reviewing the spending patterns of PSDP, controlling prices of essential commodities, enhancing quality of services in education and health sectors and providing relief to the general public by strengthening the social safety nets.

The meeting recommended that provinces to bring forward prioritization of various projects funded by the Federal Government which falls under the ambit of the provincial subjects following the devolution of power.

The Provinces assured that efforts are underway to control prices and improve quality of service in health and education sectors and to streamline financial discipline to meet budgetary targets.