ISLAMABAD            -       The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved various supplementary grants including for controlling locust and for Pakistan International Airline Corporation Limited.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the meeting of the ECC. The ECC has approved technical supplementary grants worth Rs3.2 billion for PIACL (Pakistan International Airline corporation Limited) to discharge the obligations on account of mark-up against GoP guaranteed loans.

The ECC has also approved grants of Rs25,206,953 in favour of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (PARD) Peshawar for the current financial year and Rs1300 million to Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to discharge its various liabilities. It has approved Rs235 million to Deputy Commissioner Islamabad for making payment of internal security duty allowance to troops of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) deployed in Islamabad and Rs500 million to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to meet the expenditure of media campaign on COVID-19. The meeting has also approved Rs100 million for National Disaster Management Authority (NDMF) for procuring equipment for locust control in Punjab and Rs7.947 billion to NDMA on account of procurement of emergency equipment through Pakistan Foreign Mission in China (Ex-post Facto approval on account of Pakistan National Emergency Preparedness and Response for COVID-19, procurement of equipment and transfer of funds. It has approved Rs4.5 billion for the capacity building of Civil Armed forces as requested by the Ministry of Interior and Rs80 million for Competition Commission of Pakistan for different expenses.

The ECC has approved Rs 100 million for the purchase of kerosene oil by Head Quarters Frontier Corps KP (North) to be used in different locations posts (8000 feet and above) and Rs8.093 million for the Privatization Division for employee related expenditure. It has approved Two TSGs amounting to Rs1192.325 million and Rs358.506 million for Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for the Award of Scholarships to Afghan students

ECC also granted approval for book value adjustment of overdue amount of loans amounting to Rs30.807 billion to Earth Quake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority over and above its allocated development and non-development budget.

It also allowed, on the recommendation of the committee earlier constituted by ECC, to convert two relent Chinese loans in to Government loans keeping in view the subsuming of ERRA into NDMA and ERRA being non-profit/ non revenue generating entity.

ECC also approved the “handing over of Pakistan Machine Tool Factory to Strategic Plans Division. For the purpose of operationalisation of PMTF, Rs500 million shall be provided to SPD as a loan. The Federal Government shall pay all the liabilities accrued till the transfer of management control of PMTF to SPD, after partial settlement of liabilities of Rs 1.78 billion

ECC also approved the “Risk Sharing Facility for SBP Refinance Scheme to support employment and prevent layoff of workers. The scheme supports provision of credit at concessional rate to businesses that commit not to lay off workers till September 2020 ( earlier the cut off date was 30th June 2020), the loss coverage for SME sector has been increased to 60 per cent from the existing 40 per cent to promote greater take up at the smaller level of business. Under the new changes the borrowers having turnover up to Rs 800 million can avail benefit of the scheme; earlier, for the eligibility of the scheme, the turnover limit was up to Rs2 billion).