The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved Rs. 50 billion funds for parliamentarians’ schemes under the Sustainable Development Goals.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of ECC.
The committee on the request of the Ministry of Housing and Works, Power, and Petroleum divisions approved more than Rs. 50 billion funds for the execution of development schemes under the SDGs Achievement Program (SAP) in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research submitted a summary for allocation of PASSCO’s wheat amongst recipient agencies/ provinces /areas for the year 2023-24 and informed that the recipient agencies have made their demand of 2,488,000 MT for the food year 2023-24.
The ECC after discussion allowed allocation of wheat amongst the recipients @ 50% local and 50 percent imported on the weighted average price of the stock.
Meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet was chaired today by Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar and attended by Federal Ministers, Secretaries and Govt officials. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/8bfqGiUCGI
— Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan (@Financegovpk) July 24, 2023
The ECC further directed that all recipients would pay the full price of wheat and incidental charges of PASSCO as there would be no financial liability on the part of the federal government for the supply of the wheat to the respective provinces/entities.
The ECC also directed the provincial governments to pay the pending liabilities of Rs. 149 billion of PASSCO before the signing of the MoU for the procurement of wheat for the current year.
The ECC approved a summary of the Ministry of Industries and Production regarding amendments in the EPZA Rules, 1981, and EPZs ( Control of Entry and Exit of Persons and Goods) Regulations, 1994, to allow the import of construction material from tariff area into EPZs of Northern region (Sialkot, Gujranwala, and Risalpur) as well as all future EPZs in local currency instead of foreign convertible currency for their speedy colonization and achievement of optimum export targets, with condition that this relaxation would be for locally manufactured products by Pakistani entrepreneurs for a period of next five years.
The Power Division submitted a summary for approval of the commissioning of 1,263 MW CCPP-Punjab Thermal Power (Pvt) Limited Jhang.
The ECC after discussion approved the proposal of deferment of performance tests on HSD as required by the government of Punjab and declaration of Commercial Operation Date (COD) of Punjab Thermal Power (Pvt) Limited on RLNG upon successful completion of Commissioning Test testing on RLNG; and in case of non-availability of RLNG fuel, PTPL shall be treated on forced outages under the PPA till the successful testing of the power plant on HSD fuel.
The Petroleum Division submitted a summary regarding the allocation of condensate to Attock Refinery Limited and its freight charges adjustment through IFEM. The ECC after discussion approved the proposal and allowed the reallocation of 5,000 BPD condensate to ARL from UEPL’s Naimat Facility.
The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination submitted a summary regarding the fixation of Maximum Retail Prices of 26 new drugs. The ECC after a detailed discussion approved the fixation of Maximum Retail Prices (MPRs) of twenty-five new drugs.
ECC also approved Rs. 10 billion as TSG in favor of PM’s Youth Business & Agriculture Loan Scheme (PMYB&ALS) surrendered from PM’s Youth Program for small loans, Rs. 2,725 million as TSG in favor of Power Division for the execution of development schemes of Punjab, Sindh, KPK and Balochistan provinces under Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Program.
