Islamabad: Following the decision of the Shehbaz-government to keep the petroleum prices unchanged at the rate ‘frozen’ by the former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved a supplementary grant of 55.48 billion rupees for the disbursement of Price Differential Claims (PDCs) to Oil Marketing companies and refineries for the first fortnight of this month.
Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail chaired a meeting of the ECC in Islamabad, which approved the grant of Rs 55.48 billion by the government to the Oil Marketing companies and refineries as a subsidy.
The ECC allowed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to explore the possibility of importing 200,000 MT of Urea on the government to government basis and on deferred payment to create better stock for Urea fertilizer to ensure continuity of Urea supply during the next financial year.
It is pertinent to mention that the current government face the dilemma of to whether take the tough decision of increasing fuel prices, which would cause backlash from the public, or dissolve the assemblies and go for early elections.
In this regard, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after consultation with PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif in London, returned to Pakistan to hold consultations with the coalition partners before taking any decision.
Prime Minister is rumoured to make any decision on one of the two options today, but until the decision is made, the government decided to keep the prices unchanged, causing serious stress on the value of the rupee against the dollar.
