KARACHI: Pakistan is seeking the International Monetary Fund鈥檚 (IMF) approval to supply surplus power to the industrial and agriculture sectors at an unsubsidized tariff of seven to 7.5 cents per unit, the country鈥檚 power minister, Awais Leghari, said, according to an official statement on Wednesday.

The once energy-deficient South Asian nation now boasts 7,000 megawatts of surplus electricity that it began generating with Beijing鈥檚 help under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of President Xi Jinping鈥檚 Belt and Road Initiative.

鈥淲e have been consulting with the IMF for the past six months to approve the scheme,鈥� Leghari told a consultative meeting held in the federal capital Islamabad regarding Pakistan鈥檚 transition from solar net metering to a net billing system.

The government plans to generate as much as 60 percent of its power from renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy over the next five years to cut the cash-strapped country鈥檚 oil import bill.

鈥淭here is no direct financial pressure on us [from the IMF],鈥� the minister said, adding the move would balance the nation鈥檚 supply and demand of electricity, strengthen the power system and benefit consumers.

The Washington-based lender approved a $7 billion loan for Pakistan last year to help support export-led growth and is reviewing the government鈥檚 budgetary plans for FY26, starting in July.

According to the National Accounts Committee, Pakistan鈥檚 economy is expected to expand by 2.7 percent during the outgoing FY25 due to lackluster agricultural and industrial performance.

The power minister said the government, since June, has provided cross-subsidies of Rs 174 billion ($617 million) to industries, a measure that brought down industrial tariffs by 31 percent and significantly increased consumption.

Under its ongoing energy reforms, the minister said, the government is considering various proposals, including changing the current solar net metering system into a more effective, transparent and sustainable model.

鈥淭he government is not abolishing net metering,鈥� he continued, adding that its scope had expanded so significantly that it was now seriously impacting the national grid, thus requiring timely intervention.

In the fast-solarizing Pakistan, net metering allows consumers to utilize the electricity generated by their in-house solar systems and send the surplus to the national grid at an agreed rate.