Muhammad Mudassar

Pakistan’s import bill of the petroleum group was recorded at $1.87 billion in August 2022, showing a surge of 29.93% as compared to the $1.44 billion in July, WealthPK reports. Major reasons for the increase in the oil import bill are a hike in the prices of fuel in the international market and the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee. The figures of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics show that on year-on-year basis the import bill of petroleum hiked by 6.21% in August 2022 as compared to August 2021. The share of the petroleum group in the total import bill of $6.1 billion stood at 30.74% in August 2022. In the petroleum group, the major share is of petroleum products in the import bill, followed by petroleum crude, liquified natural gas and liquified petroleum gas.

The quantity of the export of petroleum products and petroleum crude gas reduced by 34% and 23.84%, respectively, in August 2022 as compared to the same month of the previous year. The major reason for the reduction in lower quantity but the hike in the import bill of the petroleum group is an increase in the price of crude oil in the international market. According to a data source Macrotrends, the price of crude oil in August 2021 was $71.26, about 31.6% lower than its rate in August 2022 which was $93.74 per barrel.

Imran Ahmed, an energy expert, told WealthPK that Pakistan was affected by the energy product price vulnerability in the global market. To tackle the issue Pakistan should use indigenous sources of energy like solar and wind. Pakistan has enormous potential for solar and wind energy. Wind corridors in the country were identified by USAID in 2007. A shift to indigenous sources of energy would not only solve the issue of the energy crisis in Pakistan but would also contribute positively to the national exchequer. Climate change is another factor, which severely affects power generation because Pakistan is generating electricity from hydropower. For hydroelectricity generation, water flow is an important factor.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk