ECC tasks finance division to negotiate with Karkey over Rs7.6 bn loan

ISLAMABAD: Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting headed by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday approved the immediate release of funds for advertising expenditure on Kashmir Day, ARY NEWS reported.

The funds will be made available from the budget of the ongoing fiscal year and any increase would be made part of the supplementary budget, the meeting decided.

The ECC also gave a nod to the Finance Division to negotiate over a settlement on Rs7.6 billion loan in the Karkey case. It is pertinent to mention here that the ECC approved a technical supplementary grant equivalent to Rs252.382 million for discharge of liabilities related to M/s Karkey arbitration on August 27.

Moreover, the ECC meeting today also approved a technical supplementary grant of Rs 72.63 billion Power Holding Company. The meeting also decided to include Rs804 billion power sector loans under government loans.

It also approved the provision of Rs 10 billion for paying interest on Sukuk bonds besides also releasing Rs 5 billion funds for the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.

In its last meeting on October 07, the ECC allowed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to issue new CNG licences to RLNG based CNG stations.

Adviser on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the ECC meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday.

ECC has allowed OGRA to issue new CNG Licenses to RLNG based CNG stations with the provision that the licensee would neither receive indigenous gas nor can claim for its conversion to indigenous gas, reads the statement released by the ECC.

The ban on the issuance of new licenses was imposed in 2008.