ECC Approves Rs. 250 Million for Intelligence Bureau for Counter-Terrorism Measures

Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet today. The committee considered a summary from the Intelligence Bureau for the provision of additional funds of Rs. 250 million during the current financial year 2023-24. The Intelligence Bureau briefed the committee about the recent surge of terrorism which needed effective countermeasures to thwart nefarious designs of terrorists. The committee approved the funds as a Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for up gradation, technical enhancement, and field activities of the Intelligence Bureau with releases on a need basis. The committee considered and approved the summary of the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination for the provision of Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) amounting to Rs. 3,568.719 million in favor of the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI), and urged the provinces to clear their pending liabilities. The summary of the Ministry of Industries and Production for approval of the mechanism for the sale of imported urea at a basket price along with locally manufactured urea was also discussed. The ECC approved the mechanism for weighted average price with the direction to National Fertilizer Marketing Limited (NFML) to ensure reasonable prices for urea and the Ministry of Industries & Production to provide oversight to the whole process. ECC also considered the summary of the Finance Division for signing the addendum to the Subsidiary Grant Agreement (SGA) regarding financial inclusion & infrastructure project and exemption from the relending policy of release of funds to the State Bank of Pakistan and accorded its approval. A summary from the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination was also tabled for approval of the release of a grant for the participation of Pakistan’s Hockey team in international events and other sports promotion activities. This grant, ECC was told would also be utilized for Davis Cup (Tennis) with India and other mind games like scrabble and chess. The Committee approved the provision of additional funds amounting to Rs. 100 million as Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG) for FY 2023-24. The meeting was attended by the Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad, Minister of Planning Sami Saeed, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Muhammad Jehanzaeb Khan, Minister for Law and Justice Ahmed Irfan Aslam, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr Waqar Masood, Federal Secretaries, and other senior government officers of the relevant ministries.