ECC of the Cabinet takes multiple important decisions

ECC of the Cabinet takes multiple important decisions

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the proposal to issue a letter of comfort in favor of PSO for raising a loan facility of Rs. 50 billion.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail presided over the meeting.Ministry of Energy presented a summary on syndicated running finance facility for PSO. The ministry informed that the banks would initiate the process of issuing loan to PSO on letter of comfort. Consequently, ECC approved the proposal to issue a letter of comfort in favour of PSO for raising a loan facility of Rs. 50 billion on urgent basis.

However, the committee also asked Finance Division to divert some other allocated guarantees to PSO without exceeding Rs. 105 billion domestic guarantee limit for the 1st quarter of CFY.

ECC also approved summary regarding issuance of GoP guarantee in favour of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). The summary was presented by Ministry of Aviation. It was informed that Roosevelt Hotel Corporation (RHC), which is owned by Pakistan International Airlines-Investment Limited (PIA-IL), shut down in December 2020 due to financial troubles. A committee was constituted to look into the financial challenges of RHC, which recommended GoP support of $142 million. The ECC after discussion approved GoP guarantee for financing facility as loan from NBP.

Ministry of Industry and Production tabled a summary for revision in price of imported Urea. It was informed that the price of imported Urea stored in National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML) warehouses is lower than locally manufactured Urea. Therefore, ECC approved the proposal that Dealer Transfer Price (DTP) of 50 kg imported Urea may be revised upward at Rs. 1805/bag by NFML (exclusive of dealer margin of Rs. 145/bag) for the stocks sold between June 23 to July 25, 2022.

Furthermore, it was directed that DTP of remaining stocks held with NFML may further be revised upward to Rs. 2150/bag (exclusive of dealer margin of Rs. 50/bag) with effect from July 26, 2022 onwards. The ECC further directed to fix the Urea pricing and dealer margin in future with its approval of the ECC.

Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, SAPM on Government Effectiveness Dr. Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, Coordinator to the PM on economy Bilal Azhar Kayani , Coordinator to PM on Commerce & Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal, federal secretaries and senior officers attended the meeting.