ECC Emphasizes on Measures to Ensure Price Stability

Federal Minister for Finance Dr Shamshad Akhtar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) briefed the meeting on the inflation situation and the latest trends of prices of various essential commodities. ECC directed the National Price Monitoring Committee to continue regular coordination with the provincial governments for measures to ensure price stability and to check hoarding and profiteering. The ECC also considered a summary of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development for approval of the budget of Employee Old Age Institution (EOBI). ECC was informed that EOBI’s contribution collection had remained stagnant during past years but had recently witnessed a substantial increase of around Rs. 100 billion. ECC appreciated EOBI for its good performance and directed it to strictly follow the budget calendar and prepare a long-term plan to clear the Rs. 2 trillion liabilities of pension dues. The forum approved the proposed budget of the organization. The summary for approval of the TAPI project as a Qualified Investment Incentive Package under the Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act, 2022 (FIPPA) was discussed at length. The forum observed that it was a much-needed project and should be launched without delay. The ECC also observed that the proposal for the inclusion of the project under the FIPPA Act required further deliberations and examination of the legal aspects, incentives, and concessions. A summary of the Power Division for approval of the Principles for settlement of capacity deduction issues of imported coal-based projects and subsequent execution of side agreement with Port Qasim Electric Power Company was also discussed. After a detailed discussion, ECC approved the settlement of the issue with PQEPCL as proposed by the Power Division. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Planning Sami Saeed, Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali, Minister for Communications, Maritimes Affairs and Railways Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Minister for Law and Justice Ahmed Irfan Aslam, Advisor to PM on Finance Dr Waqar Masood, Chairman FBR Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana, Chairperson EOBI Naheed Durrani, Federal Secretaries, and other senior government officers of the relevant ministries. A meeting of Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) was also held today which gave the approval of publication of consolidated report of the State-Owned enterprises for FY2019-2020, 2020-2021 & 2021-2022.