ISLAMABAD:The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet here on Monday approved gas price revision for domestic, commercial and power sectors for six months from January to June, 2023.
The Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) tabled a summary on Natural Gas Sale Pricing for FY 2022-23 and presented tariff proposals for all consumer categories in accordance with the Review of Estimated Revenue Requirement (RERR) for fiscal year 2022-23, according to a Finance Ministry press release.
The cabinet committee also allowed the Ministry of Economic Affairs for signing of a debt rescheduling agreement with Russia for debt suspension of Covid-related amount $14.53 million.
The approval was given after the ministry presented a summary on G-20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). This debt relief was announced in April 2020 for IDA eligible countries to mitigate the socio-economic impact of Covid-19.
Under this initiative, the debt relief was extended through the suspension of principal and interest payments. So far, 37 debt rescheduling agreements with 15 creditor countries have been signed.
The ECC granted Rs 40 billion as Technical Supplementary Grant to th eBenazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to meet its budgetary requirements for an increase in unconditional and conditional grants.
The Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety presented a summary on the enhancement of the BSIP budget. It briefed the committee on the ongoing BISP programmes, including Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Programme “Benazir Kafaalat” covering around 9 million families, two Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programmes namely Benazir Taleemi Wazaif and Benazir Nashonuma.
Besides, this disbursement of cash assistance to the affectees of floods as an 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 the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif and it is anticipated that additional 1 million children will be enrolled by the end of June, 2023.
Also the BISP has extended the CCT Benazir Nashonuma to all the districts of the country.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar; Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan; Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghous Pasha; MNA/Ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance Tariq Bajwa, federal secretaries and other senior officers.
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik and the Governor of State Bank of Pakistan attended the meeting virtually through video link.