Faraz Hayat

Content by Faraz Hayat

• Project

  Reducing Pakistan's circular debt: Facilitating growth through energy sector reforms

  Pakistan's power sector is in crisis. Although subsidies protect consumers from the real costs, the government is burdened with serious debt. The stock of debt in the power sector has reached a staggering ~1.72 trillion rupees (£8.56bn), nearly 4% of GDP. In comparison, Pakistan spends just over 2.4% of GDP on education; more is spent on subsidising electricity prices each...

  8 Jun 2021 | Robin Burgess, Usman Naeem, Tim Dobermann, Faraz Hayat, Michael Greenstone

• Project

  Reinventing Pakistan's welfare state: Replacing energy subsidies with targeted transfers

  A welfare state faces two fundamental challenges: targeting people who need support the most and delivering the benefits in a cost-effective manner. In some developing countries, weak data leads to poor targeting, while weak institutions lead to poor delivery mechanisms. This means that these limited benefits are often availed by the less deserving, leaving less behind for...

  4 Jun 2021 | Robin Burgess, Tim Dobermann, Michael Greenstone, Faraz Hayat, Usman Naeem

• Project

  Leveraging energy data for better residential energy subsidy targeting

  A welfare state faces two fundamental challenges: targeting those who need support most and delivering benefits in an effective manner. In developing countries, weak data leads to poor targeting, while weak institutions lead to poor delivery. The benefits intended for the poor therefore only reach a fraction of the planned amounts. Targeting is challenging because of the...

  25 Nov 2020 | Michael Greenstone, Usman Naeem, Tim Dobermann, Robin Burgess, Faraz Hayat

• Project

  Supporting Pakistan’s power sector reforms

  Pakistan's power sector is in deep need of reform. It suffers from chronic shortages, not due to a lack of supply, but because of the financial woes of the public distribution companies operating throughout Pakistan. Only 71% of the electricity sold for use across the country is recovered through bills. The total ‘circular debt’ of the electricity sector amounts to...

  10 Oct 2019 | Robin Burgess, Michael Greenstone, Tim Dobermann, Faraz Hayat, Usman Naeem

• Project

  Rapid response to Pakistan’s Task Force on Energy Reforms

  Pakistan’s power sector is in deep need of reform. The sector suffers from chronic shortages not because of a lack of supply but due to the financial woes of the distribution companies operating throughout Pakistan. Of the electricity sold for use across the country, only 71% is recovered through bills. Such large losses risk collapsing the sector if left...

  17 Apr 2019 | Robin Burgess, Tim Dobermann, Michael Greenstone, Faraz Hayat, Usman Naeem