ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday approved Pakistan`s membership to the New Development Bank (NDB) set up by the BRICS nations and ordered the transfer of shares of all power distribution companies (Discos) to the President of Pakistan a key condition of the lending agencies pending for three decades.

Presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the ECC also approved more than Rs27 billion in supplementary grants, including those for parliamentarians in Sindh and KhyberPakhtunkhwa and the setting up of a joint international trading company of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Azerbaijan`s SOCAR.

An official announcement said the ECC approved Pakistan`s membership to the NDB, which was established by BRICS member countries. The committee endorsed the purchase of 5,882 capital shares in the NDB, amounting to $582 million, with $116m as paid-in capital. The entire amount is payable in seven years.

Formerly the BRICS Development Bank, NDB was set up by founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2014 to support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.

The initial authorised capital of the bank stood $100bn divided into one million shares having a par value of $100,000 each. The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50bn divided into paid-in shares ($10bn) and callable shares ($40bn).

NDB is headquartered in Shanghai, Chinaand has regional offices in other member states. India originally proposed the bank to simplify mutual settlement and lending operations among BRICS countries and reduce dependence on the US dollar and the euro. Algeria, Egypt, UAE and Uruguay later joined the bank.

Discos shares transferred The ECC also approved the transfer of shares of Discos in the name of the President of Pakistan as proposed by the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) as originally required three decades ago under lenderfunded unbundling and corporatisation of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and subsequent privatisation of power sector entities.

The process was formally stated in 1992 under which shareholding of power sector corporate entities distribution, generation and transmission companies was to be transferred to the President of Pakistan for ultimate privatisation. While all these companies had been created underthe Companies Ordinance, the share transfer process remained long forgotten until the World Bank recently set a pre-condition before Discos could be taken to the sale counter.

The government has now committed to the IMF and the World Bank to privatise three profitable Discos Islamabad, Faisalabad and Gujranwala in the first phase, followed by Lahore, Multan and Hazara Discos in the second and long-term concession lease of Hyderabad, Sukkur and Peshawar, for improvement.

The ECC also ordered that the transfer of shareholding from Wapda to the President of Pakistan would have no financial implications. The meeting also approved a proposal from the Ministry of Commerce regarding the inclusion of PCT/HS codes for newly notified mandatory items of the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) in the Import Policy Order (IPO), 2022. The decision incorporates specific PVC and polymer-based products into the mandatory regulatory framework, ensuringcompliance with Pakistan Standards.

The committee also approved the incorporation of an International Joint Trading Company in Singapore by Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).

The committee instructed the Ministry of Petroleum to ensure due diligence regarding specific investment approvals, particularly equity injections, as well as timeline for operationalisation of the company.

The meeting also approved five supplementary grants worth Rs27bn. This included a Rs19.15bn grant for 133 PSDP schemes of the defunct Pakistan Public Works Department (Pak-PWD). The funds will now be transferred to respective ministries, divisions, and provincial governments.

One of the supplementary grant worth Rs5.36bn was cleared for the Ministry of Housing and Works to execute parliamentarians` development schemes under the SDGs Achievement Programme (SAP). This would include Rs4.25bn allocated for Sindh and Rs1.11bn for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.