Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez shaikh chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet.
ECC considered and approved the Technical Supplementary Grant for the release of funds amounting to Rs. 3,300.00 million during FY 2019-20 for the project titled “Prime Minister’s special package to implement the “Skill for All” strategy as a catalyst for TVET sector Development in Pakistan.
ECC also approved the continuation of the funding facilities to ISGS. It was decided that the loan agreement between ISGS and GHPL be approved for a period of one year. Any extension thereafter be subject to progress on the undertaken projects and as soon as the first project reaches closure, ISGS needs to become financially self-sustaining and after the closure of the project it will also put forward a business plan on how it will return the loan.
ECC was given a briefing by the Ministry of Industries and Production on the current situation of the sugar supply in the country. The committee was told that adequate stocks of sugar are available in the country but prices in both the domestic and international markets are showing an upward trend. In order to maintain the prices in the domestic market, ECC banned the export of sugar.
ECC further directed that in case there is a considerable decrease in available stock, ECC would be willing to reconsider the proposal for import of sugar as well as the removal of tariff and taxes on subject import.
The members of the ECC were all convinced that there are adequate stocks of sugar available in the country and there is currently no compelling reason to import the commodity in the country. It was briefed to the ECC that there are 1.719 million tons of sugar stocks available with the Mills. ECC also directed the Ministry to talk to the provincial governments to control the price of the commodity in the country as it is a provincial subject.
ECC also approved the request by the Ministry of Law and Justice for a technical supplementary grant of $1 million equivalent to Pak rupees as legal and miscellaneous expenses in the case of Reko-Diq. ECC also directed the Ministry to give a detailed briefing on the details of the case in the next meeting.
