Islamabad, September 19, 2023 – The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has given its authorization to the Finance Division for the disbursement of projected net salaries for the first six months of the Financial Year 2023-24.
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ECC approves grant for salary disbursement to PSM employees
ISLAMABAD: Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday approved a grant for disbursement of Rs1.38 billion of projected salary to employees of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).
The ECC considered and approved a summary of Ministry of Industries & Production (MoIP) and allowed the payment of projected net salary of Rs1.378 billion for the Financial Year 2022-2023 to be disbursed every month to Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) employees through a technical supplementary grant.
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This decision will ensure the disbursement of monthly salaries to the employees.
This was approved in ECC of Cabinet meeting Chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar.
Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema, Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi MNA/ex-PM, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, Coordinator to PM on Commerce and Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal, Federal Secretaries and senior officers attended the meeting.
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Ministry of Commerce presented a summary on amendment in Import Policy Order 2022 to allow import of the Holy Quran subject to NOC from the relevant Federal or the Provincial Authority.
The summary was presented in the light of the directions of the honourable Lahore High court and Baluchistan High court directing the Federal and Provincial authorities to ensure only error-free printing, publishing, recording and import of copies of the Holy Quran. The proposed amendment of import of the Holy Quean was subject to NOC. The ECC after discussion approved the proposal.
The ECC also approved another summary of Ministry of Commerce seeking amendment in the earlier decision of the ECC dated 25-07-2022 on Regionally Competitive Energy Rates for Export Oriented Sectors during FY 2022-23 and allowed amendment that “the electricity tariff will be effective from 1st August, 2022, whereas RLNG tariff will be effective from 1st July, 2022.”
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The ECC considered a summary of Petroleum Division and allowed to grant a Development and Production Lease (D&PL) for (15) fifteen years w.e.f 15-01-2022 over Kandhkot Mining Lease area on existing Gas Price and subject to the condition that M/s PPL will pay all the financial obligations in accordance with Petroleum Policy 2012.
Kandhkot discovery was made by PPL in 1959. The Government granted the mining lease over Kandhkot Gas field for a period of 30 years in 1962 which was renewed for further thirty years in 1992.
Petroleum Division submitted another summary on revival of revoked petroleum exploration licenses. It was informed that (11) eleven exploration licenses were revoked due to non performance of work commitment and non-payment of financial obligations by various exploration & production companies.
In all the eleven blocks, status quo order was passed by the respective Civil Courts, Islamabad and Sindh High Courts. It is pertinent to mention that the litigant companies have approached the government and shown keen interest in exploration of the blocks awarded. In order to resolve this longstanding issue of litigation, which has resulted in halting of exploration and production activities in some of the respective blocks of the country, Petroleum Division has developed a framework for revival of revoked licenses through out of court settlement.
The ECC after detail discussion approved the proposed framework.
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The ECC approved another summary of Petroleum Division for change of effective control from M/s Eni ULX Limited, M/s Eni UK Limited and M/s Eni Oil Holdings B.V, in respect of its subsidiary companies i-e M/s ENI Pakistan Limited , ENI
Pakistan (AEP) Limited and ENI Pakistan (M) Limited , respectively to M/s Prime International Oil & Gas Company Limited (PIOGCL) subject to condition that PIOGCL shall be liable to the Government for all the minimum work commitments and financial obligations and Government’s revenue s will not be adversely affected after this change of effective control.
Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination presented a summary on proposal for increase in Maximum Retail Price (MRPs) of Paracetamol products. The ECC approved following agreed price of Paracetamol products.
Description Product Current Price (Rs.) Demand Price (Rs.) Agreed Price (Rs.) Plain 500mg 1.87 2.67 2.35 Extra 500mg 2.19 3.32 2.75 Liquid 104.8 117.6 117.6 The ECC also approved Technical Supplementary Grants of Rs. 30,888.5 million in favour of Defence Division and Rs. 1000 Million for Ministry of Housing and Works.
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ECC approves retrenchment plan of Pakistan Steel Mills
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the retrenchment plan of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the ECC meeting at the Cabinet Division.
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ECC discusses arrest of PNSC ship by South Africa
ISLAMABAD: South Africa has arrested a ship of Pakistan National Shipping Company (PNSC) for alleged payment default by Pakistan Steel Mills.
The issue was discussed at the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday which was chaired by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.
A statement said that the ECC considered a proposal by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs regarding arrest of PNSC ships in South Africa on account of alleged claims of M/s Coniston against Pakistan Steel Mills Ltd and asked the Finance Secretary to engage with the PNSC and PSM and seek opinion of the Law Division, if necessary, to resolve the issue having ended up in litigation.
The ECC approved release of Rs 75 billion from PM’s Relief Package of Rs 200 billion for targeted payments to the low-income groups, especially labourers and daily wagers most severely affected by the lockdown situation in the country.
Under the decision, disbursement of Rs 12,000/- per selected person would be made using the Ehsaas disbursement mechanisms under a programme called “Mazdoor Ka Ehsaas Programme”.
For this purpose, a fourth category in addition to already existing three categories in “Ehsaas Kifalat”, would be created and standard filters/checks of Ehsaas Program would be applied for identification of the beneficiaries.
Earlier, the ECC was told that after the usual filters and checks, up to 6 million low-income people were expected to benefit under the planned 4th category in addition to the 12 million labour population already targeted through category 1-3 of Kifalat.
“Mazdoor Ka Ehsaas Programme” was aimed at extending much-needed support in the current situation to the low-income labour/daily wagers mostly involved in activities such as loaders, cleaning staff, contract employees, piece rate workers, self-employed street vendors, construction workers, painters, welders, mechanics, carpenters, domestic help, drivers, etc.
The ECC also asked the Ministry of Industries and Production and the Poverty Alleviation and Social Sector Development Division (PASSD) to jointly work out comprehensive mechanism and modalities to ensure a transparent and efficient disbursement of the support to the deserving people.
During the meeting, the ECC on two separate proposals approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs 606 million for 19 projects to be implemented by the Government of Balochistan for FY 2019-20 and another technical supplementary grant amounting to Rs 7 million for purchase of spare parts for helicopter maintenance by Frontier Corps Balochistan (North).
The ECC also approved release as government loan of Rs 1.30 billion in the current financial year and Rs 3.85 billion per annum during the next three years for settlement of the outstanding liabilities of litigants in the case involving Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).
On a proposal by the Ministry of Commerce, the ECC approved notification of the Export Policy Order, 2020 and Import Policy Order, 2020 in consolidated form as per the Law Division’s recommendations for the convenience of the business community.
The ECC also approved a proposal by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and HRD for approval of the budget proposal for the year 2019-20 & revised budget estimate for 2018-19 of EOBI.
The ECC, on a proposal by the Ministry of Climate Change, approved exemption from the Re-lending Policy of the Government in respect of a USD 188 million World Bank IDA for the Pakistan Hydromet and Ecosystem Restoration Services Project.
The ECC also accorded principled approval to a proposal by the Ministry of National Health Services for provision of Rs 150 million funds as grant in aid/seed money for Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority, the ECC asked the Secretary Finance and Secretary Health to jointly to work out modalities for the arrangement of funds.
On a proposal by the Ministry of Industries and Production seeking a supplementary grant of Rs 288 million for payment of salaries to the employees of Pakistan Machine Tool Factory, the ECC asked the Finance Division and the Industries and Production Division to sit together and resolve the issue.
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Fresh audits of PIA, Pakistan Steel to be conducted for transparency
KARACHI: The federal government will conduct fresh audit of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in order to ensure transparency in state-owned enterprises (SOE).
The audits would be initiated for improving SOE governance, transparency and efficiency.
The federal government will make public the outcome of the audits by December 2019, which was agreed by Pakistani authorities with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The have approved the privatization of seven companies based on their good privatization prospects. They will follow best practices regarding the process and conditions of privatization to ensure a successful and transparent outcome.
The government will sort SOEs into companies for sale, liquidation, or retaining under state ownership. This has to be done by end-September 2020.
Further the government will submit to parliament a new State-Owned Enterprise Law by end-September 2020 aimed at modernizing and clearly defining the role of the State as owner, regulator, and shareholder of SOEs.
In this context, the recently established holding company to manage SOEs will follow the required governance and transparency principles in line with international best practices.
The IMF will provide technical assistance to support the development of this law and to review ownership arrangements with a view to designing an effective ownership model.
Pakistan has assured the IMF of taking measures for improvement of the economy, which included:
— Commit to not grant further tax amnesties Continuous
— Issue licenses for the track-and-trace system for excises on cigarettes end-September 2019
— Adopt measures to strengthen the effectiveness of the AML/CFT framework to support the country’s efforts to exit end-October 2019 the Financial Action Task Force list of jurisdictions with serious deficiencies
— Submit to parliament, in consultation with IMF staff, amendments to the State Bank of Pakistan Act to address all end-December 2019 recommendations of the new 2019 Safeguards Assessment Report and the 2016 Technical Assistance Report on Central Bank Law Reform.
— Notify the FY 2020 electricity tariff schedule as determined by the regulator end-September 2019
— Prepare a comprehensive circular debt reduction plan in collaboration with international partners (para. 19 MEFP) end-September 2019
— Submit to parliament amendments to the NEPRA Act to (i) ensure full automaticity of the quarterly tariff end-December 2019 adjustments and (ii) eliminate the gap between the regular annual tariff determination and notification by the government
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Commission directed to submit privatization proposals for Steel Mills
ISLAMABAD: Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) on Monday directed Ministry of Industries and Production and Privatization Commission to present proposals for the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, chaired meeting of CCoP.
The committee discussed the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills.
While presenting the report of the task force on energy reform, the Ministry of Energy briefed the Committee about the challenges being faced by the DISCOs.
Various measures recommended by the task force for improving the performance of energy sector with a focus on reduction of losses and enhancing the efficiency of DISCOs were discussed during the meeting.
The Committee directed the Ministry of Energy to submit proposals aimed at accelerating closure of those GENCOs that have outlived their recommended life and are running into losses. Issue of delisting of House Building Finance Corporation Ltd (HBFC) from the privatization list was also recommended to be presented in the next meeting.
The Meeting was attended by the Federal Minister for Privatization, Muhammad Mian Soomro, Adviser on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, various Federal Secretaries and senior officials of the government of Pakistan.