ECC directs Ministry of Planning to ensure control on undue profiteering & to maintain gap b/w wholesale & retail prices of essential food items

ISLAMABAD, Sep 19 (SABAH): The Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Dr. Shamshad Akhtar chaired the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Tuesday.

Sami Saeed, Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives,  Gohar Ijaz, Minister for Commerce, Industries, & Production, Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Minister for Communication, Maritime, & Railways,  Muhammad Ali, Minister for Power & Petroleum, Umar Saif, Minister of IT and Telecommunication, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Governor SBP, Chairman SECP, Federal Secretaries and other senior officers attended the meeting.

Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives gave a briefing about the trends of Major economic Indicators and trends in the Prices of important food items. The ECC directed Ministry of National Food Security and Research to prepare and submit regular reports on availability of stocks, consumption, and pricing of all staple items specially Wheat and Sugar to the ECC in order to enable it to monitor the availability and pricing of these important commodities.

The ECC also directed the Ministry of Planning, Development, & Special Initiatives to ensure control on undue profiteering and to maintain the gap between wholesale & retail prices of the essential food items and consumer products through respective Chief Secretaries.

The ECC considered a summary of Ministry of Industries & Production regarding “Approval for Disbursement of Salary of Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) Employees for the Financial Year 2023-24”. After detailed discussion and deliberation, the ECC authorized Finance Division to approve the payment of projected net salary for first 6 months of the Financial Year 2023-24 to be disbursed according to the salary demand of PSM for every month from already approved budgetary allocation of Rs. 10 billion.

A summary of Ministry of Energy was also considered regarding “Transition of London Inter Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR) to Secured over Night Financing Rate (SOFR)”. The ECC, after discussion, directed the Ministry of Energy to prepare a detailed analysis of the financial implications of this decision and bring it in the next ECC meeting for discussion and approval.