The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Tuesday decided to purchase 8 million tonnes of wheat from the farmers for the upcoming season.
The ECC meeting was held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar at the Prime Minister’s Office. In his opening remarks, the finance minister said the government of PML-N, in line with its manifesto, introduced several structural reforms in the economic sector to overcome the challenges it confronted. He said today, thanks to Allah, all economic indicators were on the positive trend. Growth was moving up, inflation was going down, foreign exchange reserves were growing, value of rupee was appreciating and the stock market was moving up, he added. He said the economic scenario of the country was moving in the right direction and they would be able to contribute in prosperity of their people.
The ECC approved the summary of ministry of national food security and research for fixing procurement target for the wheat crop 2013-14 as eight million tons. This includes 1.600 million tons of wheat to be procured by PASSCO. Punjab will procure 4.5 million tons, Sindh 1.3 million, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.450 million and Balochistan will procure 0.150 million tons wheat. The ECC also decided to extend the ban on the import of gold under SRO 760 up to 31st March, 2014. the finance minister directed the ministry of commerce to re-examine the issue holistically for submission of the matter before ECC in the next meeting. The finance minister also directed the commerce ministry to lift restrictions on the export of gem stones.
The ECC also reviewed performance of large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector. The ECC was informed by the ministry of industries that with the induction of the present government, the performance of LSM has improved to a great extent. It said the LSM growth stood at 6.8 percent in July-December 2013-14 as compared to 2.3 percent in the same period last year. The ECC was informed that there was 78 percent increase in sugar production and 28 percent increase in fertilizer sector.
The finance minister observed that the main reason for increase in production was due to reduction in electricity load-shedding and enhanced supply of natural gas to the industry. He said the growth reflects renewed confidence of business community/industrialists on the economic policies of the government. The finance minister directed the officials of the ministries of commerce and industries to ensure shipment of export quota of sugar up to 5,00,000 metric tons. He said both the ministries and State Bank of Pakistan should reconcile their data on sugar export. He also directed the commerce ministry to submit a comprehensive policy on sugar.
The finance minister further directed the officials of the ministry of industries to present their recommendations and concrete measures before the next ECC meeting, which would achieve growth targets in LSM sector. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastagir Khan, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Ahsan Iqbal, secretaries of the concerned ministries and senior officials of the government.