Pakistan Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), jointly launched by Habib Bank (HBL) and S&P Global, is showing sustained growth in manufacturing for the last several months.  It has been consistently above 50, indicating expansion. This indicator disagrees with contraction reported by Pakistan Bureau and Statistics (PBS) Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) indicator. What accounts for this discrepancy? Is it because the LSM tracks only a subset of industries tracked by PMI? Is there a difference…

Last year, California lawmakers voted 31-5 to approve the first state-wide bill (SB 403) explicitly banning caste discrimination. The bill, enjoying broad support among California voters, was sponsored by Senator Aisha Wahab.  It was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom under pressure from wealthy political donors belonging to the Hindutva lobby.  …

Nuclear power plants in Pakistan generated 15,540 GWH of electricity in 2021, a jump of 66% over 2020. Overall, Pakistan's power plants produced 136,572 GWH of power, an increase of 10.6% over 2020, indicating robust economic recovery amid the COVID19 pandemic. …

Nearly 4,000 new net metering licenses have been issued in Pakistan in the July-September quarter, up from 2,000 in the same quarter last year. Vast majority of these are for solar photo-voltaic installation. Net metering solar installations are in addition to the rapidly growing off-grid solar panels across Pakistan. Higher electric utility (DISCO) bills and lower cost of solar panels…

Pakistani power sector is continuing its march toward cheap indigenous sources of electricity. Hydropower component has increased 22%, coal 57% and nuclear 8% while oil is down 54% and natural gas and LNG are down 32% and 15% respectively, according to Bloomberg. These…

Construction of 1,100 MW nuclear power reactor K2 unit in Karachi has been completed by China National Nuclear Corporation, according to media reports. A similar reactor unit K3 will add another 1,100 MW of nuclear power to the grid, bringing the total nuclear power installed…

Pakistan's Central Power Purchasing Agency's report shows that General Electric's 9HA-Class turbines produced only half of their capacity this August, according to Reuters. Power executives and government officials in the country said the GE turbines had operational issues like long outages and production delays.

GE Turbine Problems:…

American journal US News & World Report (USNWR), known for its university rankings, has ranked Pakistan as the 20th most powerful country in the world in 2017. The United States tops the list followed by Russia at number 2 and China at number 3. Among Pakistan's neighbors, Iran ranks 14th and India 16th on the list.  This latest ranking by an international publication is yet another indication of the failure of Indian leader Narendra Modi's sustained efforts to i…

Pakistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has published for public comments its revised feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for solar energy projects of up to 100 MW, according to a report in PV-Tech journal.…

"The Pakistani establishment, as we saw in 1998 with the nuclear test, does not view assistance -- even sizable assistance to their own entities -- as a trade-off for national security vis-a-vis India". US Ambassador Anne Patterson, September 23, 2009

Pakistan has the world's fastest growing nuclear arsenal today in the midst of a fierce insurgency waged…

"Do your fasting, pay zakat (charitable donations) and serve your parents, but do these things by the light of legal electricity." Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO)

Lack of affordable fuel has forced many power producers in Pakistan to operate at a fraction of their installed capacity since 2008. It has led to widespread load-shedding in the country, seriously hurting its economy. Similar situation now appears to be developing in India as well, although it's not quite as serious as Pakistan's current crisis yet. Current costs of various fuel options vary from $4 per mmBTU for coal to $20 per mmBTU for oil. Recently, the US prices of natural gas have…