Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet has directed Ministry of National Food Security and Research to submit regular reports on availability of stocks, consumption, and pricing of all staple items specially wheat and sugar in order to enable it to monitor the availability and pricing.

The forum met in Islamabad today with Caretaker Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, & Economic Affairs Dr. Shamshad Akhtar in the chair. The forum also directed Ministry of Planning, Development, & Special Initiatives to ensure control on undue profiteering and to maintain the gap between wholesale and 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 Employees for the current financial Year”. 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 10 billion rupees.

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

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