Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved natural gas sale pricing proposal and 40 billion rupees as Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presided over the ECC meeting today. Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr. Aisha Ghous Pasha, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi MNA/Ex-PM, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan.
Others were Federal Secretaries, and other senior officers attended the meeting in person while Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Murtaza Mahmud, and Governor SBP attended the meeting virtually through video link.
Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) presented a summary of Natural Gas Sale Pricing FY 2022-23 and presented tariff proposals for all consumer categories in accordance with RERR FY 2022-23.
After a detailed discussion, the ECC approved a gas price revision proposal for domestic, commercial, and power sectors for six months, i-e, January to June 2023.
ECC approves debt rescheduling agreement with Russia
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 extended through principal and interest payment suspension.
So far, 37 debt rescheduling agreements with 15 creditor countries have been signed.
Foregoing in view, the ECC allowed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to sign a debt rescheduling agreement with Russia for debt suspension of a Covid-related amount of US$ 14.53 million.
BISP Grant For Poor Segments
The Ministry of Social Safety and Poverty Alleviation presented a summary of the enhancement of the BSIP budget.
The meeting was briefed on the ongoing BISP programs, including Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Programme “Benazir Kafaalat” covering around 9 million families, two Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs, namely Benazir Taleemi Wazaif and Benazir Nashonuma.
This disbursement of cash assistance to affectees of floods as emergency relief of Rs. 25,000/- was provided per affected family to around 2.7 million families.
In the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, there have been accelerated enrolments in Benazir Taleemi Wazaif, and it is anticipated that additional 1 million children will be enrolled by the end of June 2023.
Also, BISP has extended CCT Benazir Nashonuma to all the country’s districts. After discussion, the ECC granted Rs. 40 billion as Technical Supplementary Grant to BISP to meet its budgetary requirements for an increase in unconditional and conditional grants.
