The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has put an end to the hopes of the Pakistani authorities to stimulate the development of the cryptocurrency industry through preferential electricity tariffs. The fund categorically rejected the idea of subsidies for bitcoin miners, which was a serious blow to the plan to create a national crypto reserve. And this is despite assurances from the Pakistani side about the availability of excess capacity, especially in winter.

As stated by the Federal Secretary of the Department of Energy of Pakistan, Dr. Muhammad Faqhrai Alam Irfan, the IMF's position on any kind of targeted subsidies, including benefits for mining, remains consistently tough. Now, the fate of the initiative, from which the government expected an influx of investment and technological progress, will be reviewed by other international creditors, primarily the World Bank.

Pakistan planned to allocate up to 2,000 megawatts of government electricity exclusively for crypto farms and data centers serving artificial intelligence. This project, supervised by the Pakistan Crypto Council, was supposed to create high-paying IT jobs, attract foreign capital, and effectively use idle energy resources to develop the digital sector. The authorities emphasized that the country is ideally suited for hosting global data centers and will become a key hub for digital flows between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

However, the IMF expressed serious concerns about this plan a month ago, pointing to possible legal problems, the risk of overloading the energy system, an imbalance in the allocation of resources and the negative impact of subsidies on tariffs for the population and industry. In addition, Pakistan did not coordinate this project with the IMF in advance, which was perceived as a violation of procedures.

At the same time, there were heated debates in parliament around
settlement of the huge cyclical debt to banks. Some senators questioned the integrity of the deal, and there were accusations of pressure. However, Dr. Muhammad Faqhrey Alam Irfan strongly denied these allegations, emphasizing the absence of new taxes for the population. As a positive example, he cited a mobile application to combat inflated electricity bills, which will soon be available to K-Electric consumers.