US withheld 55 million dollars payment to Pak from 'terror war' bill

Islamabad, Jan 27 (ANI): The United States has withheld 55 million dollars under its reimbursement programme for expenses incurred by Pakistan on the war on terror after American auditors raised objections.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin said here that the Pakistan Government would re-submit a case for the release of the amount, which has already been spent from its resources against the war on terror.

Talking to reporters after attending the launching ceremony of the code of conduct for members of the Pakistan Micro-financing Network, he said that after the deduction Islamabad received 101 million dollars from the US under the head.

Tarin said the country's balance of payment position would improve after a loan of 700 million dollars from donors was received by the end of March.

He said the country would get 500 million dollars from the World Bank in February and another 200 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank. Pakistan has recently received loan of 500 million dollars from China and 100 million dollars from the ADB.

He said the fiscal deficit had dropped to 1.9 per cent of the GDP against the target of two per cent fixed for the first half of the current fiscal year.

Answering a question, he said that under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan was bound to eliminate subsidy on electricity by the end of June this year.

However, he said the government would make a nominal increase in power tariff before the next fiscal year.

Tarin said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had in November last year allowed an increase of 62 per cent in tariff and about 18 per cent increase had already been passed on to consumers. (ANI)