Federal Minister for Power Division and Energy Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Thursday said that a new tariff policy — expected to make industries more competitive — is to be announced soon by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz approved a comprehensive five-year tariff reform plan to be announced in the federal budget 2025-26, aiming to drastically reduce customs duties, additional customs duties, regulatory duties on raw materials and semi-finished goods, and a phased reduction in overall tariff protections for select industries.

Consequently, the premier constituted a high-powered steering committee to implement the five-year National Tariff Policy, ensure its effectiveness, monitor macroeconomic indicators related to tariffs, and develop a strong narrative to attract foreign investment and generate industrial surpluses for export.

Addressing an energy workshop in Islamabad today, the federal minister said, “The government has reduced power price for industries by over 30 per cent in the past year.”

The minister mentioned the plan to privatise power distribution companies, adding that the decrease in their losses was encouraging.

He said the government was focusing on renewable energy and that it has shut down 3,000 megawatts of furnace oil-based plants in the past few months.

Leghari said that twenty-seven thousand agriculture tube wells in Balochistan will be shifted to solar power in the next two to three months.