ECC approves projected salary for first 6 months of PSM

• ECC approved payment of projected net salary for first six months to PSM.
• The funds will be given from an allocated amount of Rs10 billion.
• Planning Ministry briefs ECC on economic indicators.

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved the payment of projected net salary for the first six months of the Financial Year 2023-24 to the defunct Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

The Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, & Economic Affairs Dr Shamshad Akhtar chaired the meeting of the ECC of the federal cabinet. The ECC considered a summary of Ministry of Industries & Production regarding “Approval for Disbursement of Salary of Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) Employees for the Financial Year 2023-24”.

The ECC authorized Finance Division to approve the payment of projected net salary for the first six months of the Financial Year 2023-24 to be disbursed according to the salary demand of Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) for every month from already approved budgetary allocation of Rs. 10 billion.

PSM has remained closed since 2015 and production has reduced to zero. According to reports, this year Rs1.24 billion have been paid on salaries. The government has allocated Rs10 billion for the total expenditure of steel mills in the current financial year.

It has been revealed that financial resources are not available to pay salaries to employees. Out of 8,779 employees, 5,679 have been laid off. The current number of steel mills employees is more than 3000. The monthly salary bill is Rs100.4 million. The total losses of Pakistan Steel Mills till June 2022 were more than Rs206 billion.

Planning Ministry briefing

The ECC directed Ministry of National Food Security and Research to submit regular reports on availability of stocks, consumption, and pricing of all staple items specially wheat and sugar in order to enable it to monitor the availability and pricing.

Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives gave a briefing about the trends of Major economic Indicators and trends in the Prices of important food items

The ECC directed Ministry of National Food Security and Research to prepare and submit regular reports on the availability of stocks, consumption, and pricing of all staple items specially wheat and sugar to the ECC in order to enable it to monitor the availability and pricing of these important commodities

The ECC also directed the Ministry of Planning, Development, & Special Initiatives to ensure control of undue profiteering and to maintain the gap between wholesale & retail prices of essential food items and consumer products through respective Chief Secretaries.

A summary of Ministry of Energy was also considered regarding “Transition of London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR) to Secured over Night Financing Rate (SOFR)”.

The ECC, after discussion, directed the Ministry of Energy to prepare a detailed analysis of the financial implications of this decision and bring it to the next ECC meeting for discussion and approval.

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