ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Wednesday approved tariff differential subsidy of Rs319 billion to the government-owned power plants and KE as well as phasing out the Export Finance Scheme of the State Bank, a requirement under the IMF Standby Arrangement.
Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.
The council considered a summary of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) for the release of Rs57 billion advanced subsidy for payment of K-Electric arrears and approved the Technical Supplementary Grant to meet the operational requirements of the power sector.
Another summary of the Power Division for settlement of payables to the government owned power plants (GPPs) on a par with the IPPs was approved. The council directed the release of Rs262.075 billion to the public sector power plants through the technical supplementary grant. This matter will be further discussed in the next meeting.
The council agreed to initiate the phasing out of Export Finance Scheme. To operationalize this requirement, the council approved the release of Rs3.87 billion to the EXIM bank for the current fiscal year.
Discussing the report on the ECC’s decisions on the PSM’s liabilities towards the GoP as discussed on September 19, 2023, the finance minister directed the industries ministry to carry out a diagnostic survey to determine why liabilities of PSM persisted even though it had not been operational since 2015 and how its land had been allocated to the housing companies and other industries without due process. The ECC showed its displeasure and recommended that the Industries Division may look into this issue for further necessary action. Transfer of National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (Neeca) from the Science and Technology Division to the Power Division was approved.
The council also approved TSG amounting to Rs152.417 million for FY2023-24 in favour of Neeca for this purpose.
A summary regarding profitable support price for wheat crop 2023-24 submitted by the NFS&R was also discussed.
After detailed deliberations with all the provinces, the ECC recommended the last year’s price i.e. Rs3,900 per 40 kg, given the substantial increase of 77% in the support price in 2022/23.
The council endorsed that there shall be no subsidy on agricultural inputs which in any case was a responsibility of the provinces.
The forum also gave approval for notification of minimum indicative prices of tobacco crop 2024 and revision of cess rates on tobacco for the year 2024-25. An additional agenda item from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication regarding relending of GoP to National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) was discussed and approved.