ECC approves markup subsidy for housing finance under Naya Pakistan Housing

ISLAMABAD : Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) Wednesday at the Prime Minister office.  ECC decided to allocate 150,000 metric tons of wheat to the Pakistan Army from PASSCO resources on payment basis for the year 2020-2021.  ECC also approved the prices of tobacco recommended by the Price and Grade Revision Committee in pursuance of section 8(1) of the PTB Ordinance 1968.  ECC also directed that the MNFSR shall also give a detailed presentation on the mechanism of determination of prices and will also point out the gaps in the system. ECC also approved “Mark up subsidy for Housing Finance”, proposed by Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority.  Honorable Prime Minister has on July 10, 2020 announced special incentives for housing and contruction sector to revive economic development amid Covid-19 pandemic.  Markup subsidy shall be provided for 10 years on bank financing. Accordingly, end user markup rate on housing units measuring up to five marla will be five percent for first five years and seven percent for next five years. For housing units measuring 10 marla, end user markup rate will be seven percent for first five years and nine percent for next five years.  The subsidy will be given on units where the price of the housing unit does not exceed Rs.3.5 million for 3-5 Marla and is not more than Rs.6 million in case of 10 Marla House. Rs 33 billion were allocated for the loan tenor of 10 years with Rs. 4.77 billion to be allocated in the current financial year for the payment of markup this year. ECC also approved allocation of Rs. 41.8 million for Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication/ NITB for deployment of systems, data analysis, modeling and mobile apps for NCOC stakeholders and Government Departments with the instructions that wherever possible the budget may be rationalized/ minimized with the consultation of Finance Division. ECC also approved the Establishment of Balochistan Mineral Exploration Company Limited with the support of the Federal Government. It will be joint venture of GoP with the Government of Balochistan for formation and operations of BMEC with 10% shareholding amounting to Rs320 million to be injected in two equal tranches through Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation. The Petroleum Division and PMDC are authorized to execute the shareholders agreement and complete all required legal, regulatory and corporate formalities in connection with formation, incorporation and equity participation in BMEC. Ministry of National Food Security and Research brought a proposal to the ECC on (utilization) of the Fiscal package of Rs.100 billion allocated for the Agriculture and SME sector out of the 1200 billion fiscal package of the PM on Covid -19.  On the request of the MNFSR, ECC approved allocation of Rs 15.7 billion, earmarked for nitrogenous fertilizers to be diverted to phosphate and Potash fertilizers.  It was also decided to immediately release and disburse the subsidy on whitefly pesticides. Rs 1.5 billion subsidy for tractors and markup of Rs. 6.8 billion on all loans for 12.5 acres of land holdings disbursed by ZTBL with passbook as collateral for FY 2020-21 only (to be adjusted through book and tax adjustment of SBP and FBR respectively) were approved. ECC directed MNFSR to properly monitor and evaluate the mechanism of disbursement of various subsidies for maintaining transparency of the system and to ensure that benefit reaches to the small farmers.