It was a strange spectacle. On the day the rest of the world was busy processing the meaning and impact of the trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump against almost 60 countries including Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had tariffs of his own to announce to his countrymen.

In a live televised show with ample pomp and ceremony, flanked by his cabinet and before an audience of his ministers and senior bureaucrats, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to the podium to announce a reduction in power tariffs equal to Rs7.41 per unit for all households, and Rs7.59 for industry.

These are figures for average reductions across various consumer categories and different slabs. The exact impact on household bills will vary, but for someone who consumes 1,000 units per month, the impact could be somewhere around Rs7,500.

During his speech, the prime minister laboured the point that the cuts have been approved by the IMF, telling his audience how the combined efforts of the cabinet had been marshalled up in order to make these cuts possible. But a closer look revealed something different. What the government has actually done is assemble together a raft of price adjustments that have just been made under various heads, and packaged them together as some sort of a government mandated tariff relief for the country.

A senior source with knowledge of how these cuts are going to be financed gave Dawn.com the breakdown. According to the source, Rs1.70 of the total tariff cut will be financed with funds raised from not reducing fuel prices at the pump due to recent oil price........

© Dawn Prism