Committee formed to resolve Circular Debt Issue

November 4, 2020

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The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Federal Cabinet has formed a committee to prepare a proposal for settlement of circular debt for the oil sector.

The Committee was formed during a meeting of the ECC, chaired by the Prime Minister’s Finance Advisor, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.

The committee will be composed of members from all relevant stakeholders, including the Finance Ministry, the Energy and Oil Division, the Planning Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) and Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited. (OGDCL). State Oil Company of Pakistan (PSO), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) and Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL).

The committee is instructed to prepare a thorough proposal within a month and submit it to the ECC. The Cabinet Committee also decided that the circular debt problem will be comprehensively studied and evaluation will be done to resolve this problem.

In the meantime, the committee approved technical supplementary grants for the National Accountability Office (NAB), the Ministry of Health for the vaccination program and the Ministry of Religious Affairs from the costs of the Hajj and the Drug Enforcement Force.

In this regard, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research-informed the ECC of the state of wheat imports into the country.

The ministry informed the committee that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has opened the sixth tender for 110,000 metric tons of wheat, and once the price has been agreed, the total 320,000 metric tons will be picked up.