The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet which met on Thursday with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair approved in principle import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for the CNG sector.
A committee comprising the secretary finance, secretary petroleum and FBR chairman will calculate the fiscal and financial impact of the proposal and bring it in the next ECC meeting.
The ECC was informed that Pakistan’s year on year inflation (CPI) was registered at 7 per cent in August 2014, wholesale Price Index remained at 3.3 per cent whereas the Sensitive Price Index was 5.2 per cent as per figures provided by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The ECC was further informed that the workers’ remittances during the month of July-August 2014-15 were $2.97 billion as compared with $2.64 billion in the same period last year. This means an increase of 12.5 per cent. Revenue collection by the FBR during July and August 2014 were Rs 319 billion, a 14.33 per cent increase from the corresponding period last year. Large scale manufacturing recorded growth of 4.6 per cent in August 2014 as compared to the same month last year.
The ECC was also informed that the prices of onions, potatoes, petrol, kerosene oil, garlic, high speed diesel, pulse moong, pulse masoor, vegetable ghee, wheat, tomatoes and red chili powder have decreased in the month of August. The prices of rice basmati broken, rice irri-6, Nido, mustard oil, cooking oil, tin, vegetable ghee tin, salt powder loose and pulse mash had remained unchanged during the month of August.
The ECC was also informed that the country has enough stocks of wheat (6.916 million tonnes) and sugar (2.088 million tonnes) as per the latest figures of September 2014. It was also informed that the country had been producing 15,207 MW of electricity as per the figures of July 2014. The stock exchange had been robust and since May 2013, it has registered 42.9 per cent growth in rupee terms and 37.8 per cent growth in US dollar terms, according to the figures provided by KSE.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of Textile Industry for priority in gas and electricity load management, the finance minister directed the secretary textile industry and secretary petroleum to discuss the issue mutually and decide further details, subject to the availability of gas for the export oriented sector.
On a summary moved by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources for Liquefied Petroleum Gas Production and Distribution Policy 2014, ECC advised to submit the summary at its right forum which is CCI for seeking decision.
Dar advised all the representatives of ministries to discuss the issues on which they had opposing views first among themselves and then come to ECC only for the final endorsement of a well-prepared proposal.