ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday directed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to expedite sugar imports, sell the imported stocks at the port and immediately exhaust all other stocks to deflate the artificial price hike across the country.
The ECC met with Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Additional Finance Secretary Rana Asad Amin said that the Trading Corporation informed the meeting that it had stocks of over 600,000 tonnes of sugar and had already given tenders for selling 50,000 tonnes of sugar between November 6 and 15 in lots of 10,000 tonnes.
The meeting directed the TCP to sell sugar stocks on an immediate basis, as despite the start of sugarcane crushing by five sugar mills in Sindh, the price of sugar was increasing by the day. TCP informed that 350,000 tonnes of sugar were on way to the country. The meeting directed to sell the imported quantity at the port to avoid delays. The meeting decided that the Ministry of Finance would pay Rs 75 million per day to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) during the gas shortage period, instead of paying it to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
From now onwards, the KESC will pay PSO the full payment of the furnace oil purchased. Previously the federal government was paying the differential between the supplies from Zamzama gas field and furnace oil to PSO. The decision was made after PSO said it had no money to keep supplying oil to KESC. Amin said the ECC approved Rs 3 billion financing for the Bank of Khyber on a request by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Under the State Bank of Pakistan scheme, banks having assets less than Rs 50 billion can be provided funding. The funding is provided for five years with one-year grace period and interest rate calculated on the three-month average of T Bill rate. A similar facility was granted to the Bank of Punjab last year on the request of the provincial government and Rs 10 billion were released to the bank.
The gas load management plan of the Ministry of Petroleum was deferred, as it was decided that a committee headed by the petroleum minister and having minister for power, Planning Commission deputy chairman and finance secretary as members would look into reprioritising the plan, which was under implementation for the last five years.
The Petroleum Ministry estimated a gas deficit of 567 to 917 MMCFD during the winter season. The committee would re-programme the gas load management for different sectors, as it was not informed to the ECC what quantity was supplied to different sectors before and after the implementation of load management plan, Amin said.
The summary moved by the Ministry of Industries seeking permission to allow import of 5-year old cars was deferred until the next meeting, as import of vehicles came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Commerce. The committee directed ministries of industries and commerce to jointly move a summary on allowing import of reconditioned vehicles, including motorcars, vans, trucks, buses and tractors.
