ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Tuesday approved funds for different ministries/departments in a meeting president by the Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar.
The meeting was attended by the Minister for Privatization and Inter-Provincial Coordination, Fawad Hasan Fawad; Minister of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Sami Saeed; Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr. Muhammad Jehanzaeb Khan; Minister for Law and Justice, Water Resources & Climate Change Ahmed Irfan Aslam, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr. Waqar Masood, Federal Secretaries, and a number of other senior officials from the relevant ministries.
Funds Approval for Different Departments
During the meeting, a five-item agenda was presented. The first item included related to the Intelligence Bureau for the provision of additional funds of Rs. 250 Million during the current financial year 2023-24. Officials from the IB briefed the ECC about the recent surge of terrorism that required effective countermeasures to foil the nefarious designs of terrorists. Later, the ECC granted approval of the funds as a Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for upgradation, technical enhancement, and field activities of the Intelligence Bureau with releases on a need basis.
The summary was presented by the Ministry of Industries and Production for approval of the mechanism for the sale of imported urea at a basket price along with locally manufactured urea. The ECC approved the mechanism for weighted average price with the direction to NFML to ensure appropriate prices for urea and the Ministry of Industries & Production.
The Committee also approved the summary of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination for the provision of a Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) of Rs. 3,568.719 Million in favor of the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) and directed the provinces to clear their pending charges.
ECC also approved the summary of the Finance Division for signing the addendum to the Subsidiary Grant Agreement (SGA) regarding financial inclusion & infrastructure projects and exemption from the re-lending policy of release of funds to SBP (State Bank of Pakistan) and accorded its approval.
The fifth item on the agenda was related to the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination making a request for the release of a grant for the participation of Pakistan’s Hockey team in international events and other sports promotion activities. The grant would also be utilized for Davis Cup (Tennis) with India and other mind games like Scrabble and chess. The ECC approved the provision of additional funds amounting to Rs. 100 Million as a Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for the fiscal year 2023-24.
