Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet, on Tuesday.
Petroleum Division tabled a summary on liquidity requirement of PSO for import of LNG and petroleum products in the country. It was submitted that PSO has been engaged in import of LNG in the country to meet the deficit in gas demand and supply and is obliged to clear its financial obligations of supplier within stipulated period.
In order to enable PSO to remain current in its payment obligations to LNG suppliers as well as to maintain LNG supply chain, the ECC allowed release of Rs. 10 billion budgeted subsidy to Petroleum Division and allowed GoP guarantee against bank financing upto Rs. 50 billion.
Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination submitted a summary regarding transfer of amount to Government of Afghanistan for functioning /maintenance/equipments/salaries of three Pakistani hospitals in Afghanistan.
The ECC after discussion approved the revised mechanism/modalities for transfer of funds to Afghanistan as proposed by the Afghanistan Inter-Ministerial Coordination Cell (AICC) with direction to attempt to release the amount in Pak rupees.
As per revised mechanism, the total amount already approved by the Cabinet for salaries i.e. Rs. 1.009 billion would be transferred to Afghanistan in four tranches. The first tranche to be transferred by Ministry of Finance to Ministry of NHSR&C account.
These funds would be transferred through MoFA and sent to Pakistan Embassy Kabul. The remaining three tranches would be transferred through banking channels to the Embassy account opened for the purpose of disbursement of salaries for doctors and other staff working in hospitals in Afghanistan constructed and operated by Pakistan.
