Summary ECC also approved an agreement to protect Chinese investors.
Dunya News Report (Madiha Fareed)
ISLAMABAD- Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Thursday approved the proposal put forward by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to continue the reduced tariff of 0.3 pc Withholding Tax for non-filers in accordance with section 236P of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, till 29th February 2016.
The Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the ECC held at the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday.
ECC also gave a green signal to Ministry of Water and Power’s proposal of supplemental agreement to safeguard Chinese investors and their local partners from the circular debt in energy sector, under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) frame work agreement. According to the agreement, a revolving account will be established to cover 22 % of the monthly electricity bills, Ministry of Finance will provide the guarantee to fund such revolving account in case the power purchaser fails to place and or maintain the required fund.
A senior government official told Dunya News that the decision was taken after Chinese investors expressed concern that the power companies in Pakistan may not be able to make full payments given the situation of unending circular debt.
ECC also permitted the reallocation of 60MMCFD Mari shallow gas to its original allotees namely Fauji Fertilizers, Fatima Fertilizers and Engro Fertilizers, with effect from February 22nd, 2016.
Another proposal approved by ECC was one by the Ministry of Industries and Production for granting waiver of the outstanding amount of Rs. 51.50 million as loan from the Federal Government to Shahdadkot Textile Mills.
In response to the proposal put forward by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources for the Deregulation of the CNG prices, ECC constituted a Committee comprising of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Human Rights, Secretary Finance, Secretary Petroleum, Secretary Law, Chairman OGRA and Chairman FBR. The committee will look into all aspects of the proposal in detail and give recommendations to the ECC for a final decision.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), is a principle federal institution and a consultative forum used by the people-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman, for concerning matters of state s economic security, geo-economic, political, economic and financial endowment issues. Although it is usually chaired by the Finance Minister and the senior economic officials as its members on multiple occasions, the key executive authorization on key economic policies are only to be made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan who serves as the chairman of the ECC.
Its primary functions and responsibility is to finalize executive economic decisions to national economy, and to assist Prime Minister and his key staff on issues involving the economic security, threat of war, economic effects of nuclear weapons, and challenges in geo-economic policies. The ECC served as Prime Minister s principal decision-making and consultative forum for coordinating economic security and geo-economic policies among various government institutions and ministries.
