The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet Wednesday decided to fix the support price of wheat at Rs 1,300 per 40kg.
The committee, which met here with Finance Minister Asad Umer in the chair, also issued directives for immediate import of 50,000 tons of urea fertilizer and allowed supply of gas to the Fatima Fertilizer and the Agri Tech Fertilizer. However, it deferred the release of circular debt to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
The committee ordered the payment of salary to the employees of Pakistan Steel Mills for the month of September, besides release of four-month pension to the widows of retired employees of the mills. The ECC asked the Ministry of Industries and Production to put up a proposal to resolve the issue of the Pakistan Steel Mills on a permanent basis. The ECC further decided not to take up the issue of salary of the PSM employees for the next three months and directed the Finance Division and the Ministry of Industries and Production to handle the issue on their own.
At the previous meeting, the ECC had approved a hike in power tariff for the households consuming over 300 units of electricity per month. It decided that electricity prices would not be raised for domestic consumers using 300 units or less in a month. The households that consume between 300 and 700 units per month will witness a rise in electricity prices of roughly 10 per cent or Rs 1.18 per unit and a 15 per cent increase will be made for those consuming above 700 units in a month.
The committee also decided to provide relief in electricity prices to the agricultural sector, slashing rates by almost 48 per cent from existing Rs 10.50 to Rs 5.50 per unit.
The Ministry of Industries and Production informed the meeting that dealers were involved in the recent increase in cement prices. The ECC directed the provincial governments to check undue rise in the cement prices.
Published in Daily Times, November 8th 2018.
