The Cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Tuesday gave the Kuwait Petroleum Company an urgent technical extra grant of Rs27 billion.
The Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the Federal Minister for Power, Khurram Dastgir Khan, the Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Syed Murtaza Mahmud, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Musadik Masood Malik, the SAPMs for Finance and Revenue, Tariq Bajwa and Tariq Mehmood Pasha, as well as other senior government officials.
In a summary on the credit facility from Kuwait submitted by the Ministry of Energy’s Petroleum Division, it was stated that the government of Pakistan has been using the credit facility provided by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) against the supply of diesel oil under a term contract with PSO since 2000, with the term of the contract being renewed annually.
After 30 days from the bill of lading date of each shipment, PSO deposits rupee equivalent with NBP, and NBP transfers freight cost to KPC, Kuwait. Currently, this account has suffered significant currency losses as a result of fluctuations in the rupee-dollar parity during the previous 12 months.
In order to compensate these currency losses, the GoP has pledged. In light of the aforementioned circumstance, the ECC granted an emergency technical extra grant for Kuwait Petroleum Company in the amount of Rs27 billion.
In order to prevent a scarcity of wheat in the area, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan, the ECC took into consideration a summary of Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan on Wheat Supply to Gilgit-Baltistan and authorized the immediate release of 25,000 MTs to GB for the months of March and April, 2023.
The ECC provided an additional Rs2.9 billion through a technical supplemental grant to help Gilgit-Baltistan with an urgent need. This was done while keeping in mind the price of wheat at the time.
The Ministry of KA&GB was further instructed by the ECC to present a thorough strategy for pricing rationalization in cooperation with relevant stakeholders for the ECC’s approval within 30 days.
