AGL 40.21 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (0.45%)
AIRLINK 127.64 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.05%)
BOP 6.67 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.91%)
CNERGY 4.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-3.26%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.68%)
DFML 41.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.01%)
DGKC 86.11 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (0.37%)
FCCL 32.56 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.22%)
FFBL 64.38 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (0.55%)
FFL 11.61 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (10.05%)
HUBC 112.46 Increased By ▲ 1.69 (1.53%)
HUMNL 14.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-1.73%)
KEL 5.04 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (3.28%)
KOSM 7.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.21%)
MLCF 40.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-0.47%)
NBP 61.08 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.05%)
OGDC 194.18 Decreased By ▼ -0.69 (-0.35%)
PAEL 26.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.60 (-2.18%)
PIBTL 7.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.53 (-6.79%)
PPL 152.68 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.1%)
PRL 26.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-1.35%)
PTC 16.14 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.74%)
SEARL 85.70 Increased By ▲ 1.56 (1.85%)
TELE 7.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-3.64%)
TOMCL 36.47 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-0.36%)
TPLP 8.79 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (1.5%)
TREET 16.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-4.64%)
TRG 62.74 Increased By ▲ 4.12 (7.03%)
UNITY 28.20 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (4.99%)
WTL 1.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-2.9%)
BR100 10,086 Increased By 85.5 (0.85%)
BR30 31,170 Increased By 168.1 (0.54%)
KSE100 94,764 Increased By 571.8 (0.61%)
KSE30 29,410 Increased By 209 (0.72%)

The government''s indecisiveness for opening Letter of Credit (L/C) for import of 50,000 tons white sugar from Dubai caused $0.75 million loss to the national exchequer, sources told Business Recorder.
The responsibility lies either with the Commerce Ministry and Industries Ministry which asked the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to go slow on import despite clear directives of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, or State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) which did not open the L/C despite ECC instructions.
On May 23, TCP bought 50,000 tons white sugar from Alkhaleej at $494.40 per ton but the L/C could not be opened at appropriate time. At present, white sugar price is hovering at around $620/630 per ton, which implies a loss of $0.75 million, for which someone must be taken to task, said one senior official. The price of raw sugar is about $550 per ton.
Last month, Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet quizzed top officials of the Ministries of Commerce and Industries for their reported involvement in cancellation or deferment of sugar import tenders. The responsible officials of both ministries sought help of TCP Chairman Saeed Khan to deal with this situation.
Both ministries submitted a detailed report to the ECC in its meeting presided over by Privatisation Minister Naveed Qamar, explaining circumstances/justification for cancellation of the tenders for import of sugar by TCP against the decision of the ECC.
Sources said that when the tender cancellation was brought before the ECC, its Chairman, Naveed Qamar, took very serious note of violation of ECC decisions, saying that bureaucracy would not be allowed to change government decisions administratively.
The ECC, in its meeting in June, had also directed SBP to expedite the opening of Letter of Credit for import of sugar, which was not implemented. The ECC meeting on August 11, presided over by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin also allowed the TCP to import the balance quantity of 75,000 tons from the approved import of 2,00,000 tons of white sugar.
The ECC, on June 15, 2009 had directed CCP to prepare a presentation on the reported cartelisation by sugar millers, but when it attempted to give presentation in the ECC meeting held under the chairmanship of Privatisation Minister Naveed Qamar, it was not allowed to give the presentation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2009

Comments

Comments are closed.