ISLAMABAD: Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Jahanzeb Khan has briefed the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on tax collection from the sugar industry and suggested that a revised mechanism be put in place to ensure that the full amount of due taxes are recovered from the industry.
According to the details, the ECC directed FBR to place the matter before the cabinet after consulting the stakeholders within one week. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has also approved the Board of Privatisation Commission’s decision to dissolve the decision of privatizing Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and asked to ministry of production to find out the permanent solution of the issue.
On October 30, PTI led its first Board of the Privatization Commission since it came into power, and decided to stop privatization of PSM and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). On October 31, the decision was forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on Privatization, which also approved against it.
The ECC then asked the Ministry of Production to propose a solution to resolve the issues of PSM, permanently. The meeting also approved the import of 50,000 tons of urea. The ECC also asked provinces across the country to keep an eye on cement prices after it was discovered that the dealers were involved in increasing the price. The quota for SAARC food banks also increased from 40,000 million tons to 80,000 million tons. The power sector was also ordered to report the matter on Pakistan State Oil’s receivables reaching Rs 320b.
The ECC approved the proposal of the Privatization Division for disbursement of Rs. 367 million as one month’s salary (September 2018) to the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). The ECC also directed the Ministry of Industries to take immediate action for disbursement of outstanding dues to widows of PSM’s deceased employees which have been pending for the last almost four years. ECC also directed that since PSM had been excluded from the privatization list, the Ministry of Industries and Production should on priority, submit a detailed proposal to the ECC for PSM’s operationalization.
