ECC approves lowest bid for import of urea

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Friday approved the lowest bid of $551/MT from M/s Swiss Singapore Overseas PTE Ltd for import of 33,000MT Urea on CFR bulk basis.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over the ECC meeting. The Ministry of Industries and Production submitted to the committee a summary concerning the award of 3rd International Urea Tender opened on 1st December, 2022. The committee also approved two different supplementary grants of Rs16 billion for execution of discretionary utilization of funds through parliamentarians under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

These discretionary funds for parliamentarians was the only fortunate programme where the allocation was jacked up and now stands at Rs82 billion. All other development schemes under the PSDP were facing a cut but the SDGs funding was protected because of political motives. Every parliamentarian is supposed to get schemes of Rs500 million.

A top official of the Economist Group, who members have been on the pen-down strike for the last six days, commented that if the government provided 600 officers of the Economists Group, officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with 150 percent Executive Allowance, the total cost would be around Rs500 million, equivalent to just one parliamentarian doled out money in the name of SDGs programme.

The total cost of Executive Allowance for all officers was estimated at Rs1.2 billion for the whole financial year. According to the details shared by relevant authorities with The News, the Cabinet Division surrendered Rs8.1 billion in favor of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) to obtain a Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for execution of development schemes in Sindh Rs.355 million, Rs.100 million for Balochistan, Rs6.554 billion for Punjab and Rs1.1 billion for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Program.

Another Technical Supplementary grant of Rs8 billion was transferred from the Cabinet Division in favor of the Ministry of Housing & Works for execution of development schemes in Punjab and Sindh to the tune of Rs2.85 billion and Rs5.15 billion respectively during the current fiscal year.An official statement issued on Friday after the ECC meeting said, the Ministry of Economic Affairs presented a summary of the 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 principle and interest payments. The G 20 Finance Ministers extended debt relief for a further period of six months (July – Dec, 2021). Foregoing in view, the ECC allowed the Ministry of Economic Affairs for signing of debt rescheduling agreement with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for debt suspension of Covid-19 related amount US$ 26.150 million.

The ECC also approved Rs349.383 million in favour of Ministry of Foreign affairs incurred on evacuation of Pakistanis from Ukraine due to war between Ukraine and Russia; Rs8109.772 million in favour of Ministry of Energy (Power Division) for execution of development schemes of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under PSDP; and Rs8,000 million in favour of Ministry of Housing and Works.