The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Friday approved technical supplementary grants and supplementary grants of over Rs. 16 billion in favor of the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Housing and Works, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The committee, presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, approved an amount of Rs. 8.1 billion in favor of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) for the execution of development schemes of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).
The committee also approved an amount of Rs. 8 billion in favor of the Ministry of Housing and Works while another amount of Rs. 349 million was approved in favor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs incurred on the evacuation of Pakistanis from Ukraine due to war between Ukraine and Russia.
G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative
The Ministry of Economic Affairs presented a summary on G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). This debt relief was announced in April 2020 for IDA-eligible countries to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19. Under this initiative debt relief was through the suspension of principal and interest payments. The G 20 Finance Ministers extended debt relief for a further period of six months (July-Dec 2021).
The ECC allowed the Ministry of Economic Affairs for signing of debt rescheduling agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for debt suspension of a Covid-related amount of $26.150 million.
Bid for urea tender approved
The Ministry of Industries and Production submitted a summary on the Award of the third International Urea Tender opened on 1st December 2022. The ECC after deliberation approved the lowest bid from M/s Swiss Singapore Overseas PTE Ltd at $551/MT for 33,000 MT of Urea on CFR bulk basis.
Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Pasha, Federal Secretaries, Chairman SECP and other senior officers attended the meeting in person while Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Coordinator to PM on Commerce & Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal and Governor SBP joined the meeting through Zoom.
