Government to localise lithium-ion battery
Pakistan is engaging China in agreements worth $558 million focused on lithium-ion battery assembly and manufacturing for value addition, officials said on Tuesday.
The government is pursuing business-to-business engagements with Chinese firms to exploit local mineral reserves and reduce import reliance through domestic battery production. A phased domestic supply plan has been identified to address gaps, import dependence, joint-venture opportunities and required policy actions.
This was discussed at a high-level meeting on the Lithium-Ion Battery Policy chaired by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan. The meeting was attended by Secretary Industries and Production Saif Anjum, Engineering Development Board Chief Executive Hammad Mansoor and private-sector representatives.
Participants reviewed progress on the National Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing Policy 2026–2031. The SAPM said the energy storage policy must be integrated with Pakistan’s national energy security framework, in line with the prime minister’s directives, and underscored the importance of private-sector and global investor partnerships.
In Pakistan, K-Shaped recovery deepens wealth gap
Pakistan’s much-discussed economic stabilisation is masking a widening fault line: while wealthier households continue to accumulate assets and benefit from market rallies, the majority of Pakistanis are grappling with shrinking incomes, depleted savings and rising living costs.
Fresh data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), compiled by Optimus Capital Management, underscores that the country is firmly in the grip of a K-shaped recovery, where prosperity is flowing upward while financial stress deepens at the bottom.
Drawing on the latest Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES), Azam highlighted how average household incomes, expenditures and savings have evolved across income quintiles between FY2019 and FY2025. The data, originally reported in rupees and converted into US dollars to remove inflation distortions, paints a sobering picture of declining real purchasing power for the “common man”.
70 percent moib officers to retire at grade 19
What could be discouraging for any profession, over 70 percent of officers of Pakistan’s Information Service Group are expected to retire at the mid pay grade of 19 despite spending over three decades in service, underscoring the urgent need to review the service structure, reveals an internal official analysis.
Due to the narrow pyramid at the top, all current grade-17 and grade-18 officers of the Information Service Group will never reach grade 20 unless the civil service structure is reviewed, according to an assessment prepared by the Ministry of Information for the purpose of career progression of its backbone – the officers.
The situation has become particularly dire in the face of new challenges, including the growing need to build a credible state narrative to counter fake narratives, mostly peddled through unregulated social media.
Despite a normal career ladder stretching across six pay scales, from grade 17 to the highest scale of 22, the careers of three out of four civil servants end at the mid-stage due to structural bottlenecks that block promotions beyond grade 19 in most cases, the analysis showed.
Pakistan’s power distribution sector shows uneven progress
Pakistan’s power distribution sector has continued to show uneven progress on health, safety and environmental (HSE) standards, said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s (Nepra) HSE Performance Evaluation Report for fiscal year 2024-25.
The report points to persistent weaknesses among several public-sector distribution companies. Utilities such as Lahore, Quetta and Hyderabad electricity supplying companies were rated in the “fair” category, indicating gaps in safety governance, contractor oversight and field-level implementation of safety procedures. Others, including Islamabad, Peshawar and Sukkur electricity supplying firms, were only assessed as “good” and showed inconsistent performance across key indicators, suggesting that improvements have yet to be embedded into mature and sustainable HSE management systems.
Within the distribution segment, only a limited number of public-sector utilities, including Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and tribal areas electricity supplying companies, achieved “outstanding” ratings during the evaluation period. While these companies demonstrated comparatively stronger compliance, their results showed greater year-to-year variation when compared with top-ranked performers. K-Electric was placed in the “outstanding” category with the highest score of 91 out of 100.
5 percent voluntary ethanol blending proposed
A committee formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has recommended 5 percent voluntary ethanol blending with petrol based on commercial viability and in consultation with oil marketing companies.
The committee, headed by Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik, had been tasked with exploring options for fuel blending. It submitted a report to the Prime Minister’s Office, which asked it to present the study to the deputy prime minister. Oil industry officials point out that the current ethanol production from sugarcane crushing stands at only 400,000 to 450,000 tons per year. Ethanol exports from Pakistan have been used for blending to produce E10-E15 fuel. At present, most of the ethanol produced in the country is exported due to price incentives.
The committee also conducted a price comparison. The monthly average of ethanol and petrol prices indicates that ethanol remains consistently cheaper than petrol. The average difference is calculated at $225 per ton. The committee noted that due to reduced energy content in ethanol, its price needed to be lower by 20 percent to 30 percent in order to become cost-effective. Infrastructure will also require notable investment. The committee was of the view that significant capital investment should be pumped into ethanol storage and blending facilities.