News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Thursday that the closing time of businesses and markets, under the National Energy Austerity Movement, would be decided in consensus with traders, trade associations, and other business stakeholders.
The minister said that the federal government had a vision and policy of conserving energy by adopting the policy of less energy consumption in the commercial sector of Pakistan.
lessen imports reliance, save foreign reserves: Minister
Khawaja Asif said that the energy conservation plan of the federal government would enable Pakistan to rely less on energy imports as well as save foreign reserves used in the import of oil and gas for national production.
He added that Pakistan could not continue to afford the import bill of energy and fossil fuels, which makes up 20 percent of the country’s annual import expenditure of $80 billion.
