January 31, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 21, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: During the first six months of the current fiscal year the federal government has provided about Rs69 billion as subsidy to some state-run institutions to meet their operational losses.

According to the official information provided to the Senate on Wednesday, the government had provided Rs90 billion as subsidy to some institutions during the last financial year.

During the first six months of the current fiscal year, Rs41 billion has been given to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) and the full-year allocation for these organisations is estimated at Rs72.5 billion.

The government has also provided Rs13 billion to the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) during the first six months out of the full-year allocation of Rs15 billion.

According to the statistics, during the current fiscal year Rs960 million has so far been provided to the Utility Stores Corporation to meet differential between the cost and sale price of food items.

The government has provided Rs6.8 billion to the textile industry although no amount had been allocated for the industry in the federal budget of 2007-08.