The Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet this afternoon at the Prime Minister’s Office.
ECC considered and approved the payment of salaries for 7 months’ (November to May 2016) to the employees of Heavy Mechanical Complex. The amount was approved by the Committee on humanitarian grounds as the Holy month of Ramadan is approaching.
Ministry of Water and Power also presented the Pakistan Energy Sector Reform-Quarterly Progress Report of Development Policy Operations from January to March 2016 for the formal approval by the ECC. The purpose of this report is to detail the steps being taken to attain the overall objectives and goals of the GoP set under National Energy Policy 2013 and to develop an efficient and consumer oriented electric power system that meets the needs of its people and is sustainable and affordable. The Report highlights that the company wise T&D losses during the period of July–March 2015-16 have reduced to 16.3% as compared to 17.6% during the same period last year, indicting 1.3% decrease. Company wise overall recovery ratio has been 94.3% as compared to 88.5% during the same period last year showing an overall improvement of 6%. There was a substantial decrease in customers’ complaints of wrong reading and over-billing. Meter readers are compelled to record 100% reading due to image printing. Excess charging at the will of the meter reader will no more be possible now. The ECC was also briefed that the Report has been uploaded on the website of the Ministry of W&P.
ECC also extended the date for reduced withholding tax rate of 0.4% for non-filers under section 236p of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, up to 30th June 2016.
