Daily Times

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday approved a technical supplementary grant for an amount of Rs2,650.968 million in favor of the Ministry of Housing and Works for the execution of development schemes in the province of Sindh and Balochistan.

Under the recommendations of the Technical Advisory Sub-Committee, ECC also approved these technical supplementary grants including the technical supplementary grant for amount Rs2,650.968 million in favor of the Ministry of Housing and Works, said a press release issued. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Omar Ayub Khan chaired a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.

The meeting was attended by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Shaukat Tarin, Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Minister for Energy, Hammad Azhar, Minister for Railway, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam, Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), respective federal secretaries and other senior government officers.

The ECC also approved supplementary Grant / Technical Supplementary Grant in favor of the Ministry of Energy for payment of first installment (40pc) to IPPS of 2002 underpayment mechanism.

Supplementary Grant to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting amounting to Rs2 billion for launching a comprehensive media campaign on government initiatives, programs, and projects.

The ECC, after detailed discussion, deferred a summary tabled by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for notification of minimum indicative price of Tobacco Crop 2022 with the directions that a committee may be formed to address the observations of stakeholders and present the proposal in the next meeting after detailed revision.

Earlier, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin presided over the meeting of the Technical Advisory Sub-Committee. The TASC reviewed the summaries in detail and presented its recommendations to the ECC for its consideration.

The ECC after deliberation approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Commerce on Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 with directions to incorporate inputs of FBR and Finance Division and meet the observations of Power Division. After detailed discussion, ECC also approved the summary tabled by the Ministry of Industry and Production on Auto Industry Development and Export Policy (AIDEP) 2021-26, with the directions that export targets given in the Policy may be reviewed every year and updated accordingly and proposed tariff structure to be presented separately to the ECC.

The ECC after deliberation approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Energy on Retargeting of Power Sector Subsidies – Phase –II, which included removal of one slab benefit (Incremental block tariff) and incorporation of revised subsidy and inter-distribution companies tariff rationalization/cross-subsidies.

The Committee also recommended the summary tabled by the finance division for enhancement of Ways and Means Limit of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government from Rs27.0 billion to Rs31.3 billion due to the impact of the wage bill of erstwhile FATA.

The ECC discussed and approved the summary presented by the Ministry of Industries and Production for endorsement on the decision.