totally bullshit answer by shobaz gill. omar ayub was talking about new circular debt created every month. It was 40 billion/month in 2018 which was reduced to around 20 billion/month in 2019. However, back in 2019 when omar ayub made this statement there was no corona. When corona came in , govt decided to delay increase in electric prices. In fact govt actually forgave electric bills for business from April to June 2020. In addition, govt announced electric tariff subsidy for export industry. As a result of these measures, the monthly circular debt actually increased in 2020.
IMF program is suspended for the simple reason that pakistan govt has refused to raise electricity prices to the extent that IMF wants. Now govt has come up with a new strategy. They have renegotiated the price of electricity with power producers. As a result the cost of per unit will come down. At the same time, govt will increase electricity selling prices by 1-2 per unit. Thus the cost price and sell price per unit of electricity will be equal and there will be no NEW circular debt created going forward.
However, in all this discussion, the previous circular debt will remain and has to be cleared by the govt of pakistan through tax payer money.