The imposition of a power surcharge of up to Rs. 3.82 per unit from March to June 2023 was agreed by the ECC on Wednesday.
In order to carry out yet another stringent condition imposed by the IMF for restarting the delayed IMF program, power consumers would continue to pay an additional premium of Rs. 2.63 per unit on average in the upcoming fiscal year 2023–24. K-Electric power users will also be subject to this electricity tariff.
Power Surcharge Also Applicable on K-Electric’s Consumers
The ECC approved K-request Electric’s to rationalize its tariffs by making changes to power consumption from July 2022 to September 2022 and consumer recoveries from March 2023 to May 2023, respectively.
Also, it approved raising the levy for the fiscal year 2024 to pay for federal obligations to power producers.
During FY24, K-Electric customers will also be subject to these levies in order to maintain uniform pricing across the nation.
Residential customers will see a tariff increase of Rs. 1.55 per kWh in the second quarter of 2021–2022 and another increase of between Rs. 1.4 and Rs. 4.45 per kWh in the first quarter of 2022–2023 depending on the number of units used.
The purchase price for wheat, which is Rs. 3,900 for 40 kg, as well as the Rs. 5 billion Ramadan Relief package were also authorized.
Also, it permitted cancelling storage fees for containers that became stalled because LCs and currency remittances were not retired.
Wednesday’s meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet was presided over by Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the federal minister of finance and revenue.
Following a thorough discussion, the ECC agreed a standard procurement price for wheat harvest 2022–23 of Rs. 3,900/40 kg after considering a brief on wheat crop procurement prices presented by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
On the other hand, Punjab and Sindh had announced a support price of Rs. 3,900/40kg and Rs. 4,000/40kg, respectively, for wheat.
Around the same time, the Trade Corporation of Pakistan estimated that the cost of imported wheat, including inland transportation and PASSCO incidentals, was between Rs. 4,500 and Rs. 5,000/40kg.
Wheat was offered on February 23 for Rs. 4,359/40kg in Punjab, Rs. 3,825/40kg in Sindh, Rs. 4,198/40kg in KPK, and Rs. 5,109/40kg in Balochistan, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
For the Utilities Stores Corporation 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Production submitted a synopsis of the Ramzan Relief Package.
The Rs. 5 billion Ramazan Relief Plan, which utilized a hybrid model of targeted and untargeted subsidies, was also approved by the ECC.
19 goods that might be purchased from the Utility Stores Corporation would be covered under the package.
The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Board resolution to waive all storage fees for stuck-up containers and cargo held up at Karachi Port due to non-retirement of Letters of Credit and remittances of Foreign Exchange was approved by the ECC after it had taken into account a summary provided by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs.
However, the KPT will need approval from SBP before providing the waiver if the demurrage charges exceed Rs. 5 million.
The ECC additionally instructed for a report on the size and quantity of cleared consignments to be submitted on a monthly basis.
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