ECC endorses gifting 40,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has endorsed to ‘gift’ 40,000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan, ARY News reported on Friday.

The ECC meeting was chaired by the Finance Minister, Asad Umar, in the federal capital. The meeting decided to ‘gift’ 40, 000 metric tons of wheat to Afghanistan, worth rupees 1.73 billion.

The meeting also endorsed the release of funds to Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

During last meeting of the ECC, on November 27, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), had approved Gas Load Management Plan for this winter.

The ECC had decided for minimum gas load shedding during this winter and filling the gas deficit with Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG).

It was also decided that 150-200 mmcfd of RLNG will be injected in the system to overcome the shortage of gas.

The government is expecting gas shortfall from December to January, as the gap between supply and demand would surge due to less availability of local gas.

The meeting of the ECC also discussed and approved for getting Islamic Financing Facility to reduce the circular debt in the energy sector.

The ECC had recently directed the power and finance divisions to prepare a joint plan for raising Rs 300 bln Islamic financing by mortgaging assets of Discos.