ECC okays Rs68bn grant to pay price differential to OMCs

ISLAMABAD: Newly appointed Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Tuesday.

During the meeting, the petroleum division submitted a summary for reimbursement of price differential claims (PDCs) of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and refineries.

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The price differential is to be paid to the oil marketing companies and refineries by the government as a subsidy in the wake of the government’s decision to keep the petroleum products’ prices stable.

The ECC approved a supplementary grant of Rs68.74 billion for disbursement of PDC for the month of April 2022 and to meet the shortfall for the month of March, 2022.

The meeting was informed that due to continuously rising trend of oil prices in the international market, the quantum of the subsidy for the month of April, 2022 has been higher than March, 2022.

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Moreover, the previous government did not consider the PDCs for the 1st fortnight of April, 2022, due to which the present government had to bear the burden of higher quantum of subsidy as PDCs of the OMCs, a statement issued following the ECC meeting read.

Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Syed Murtaza Mehmood, federal secretaries and senior officers were in attendance in the meeting.