ECC to take up Ramazan package today

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet will take up an eight-point agenda on Thursday (today) including the provision of essentials to the people at subsided rates at Utility Stores under a Ramazan package.

The meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, will also finalise barter trade agreements with Afghanistan and Iran. Sources said the industries ministry would present a summary at the meeting for subsidised rates at Utility Stores in the month of Ramazan.

A plan to build sugar stocks to curb the rise in the prices of the sweetener will also be considered.
The ECC is also expected to finalise the terms of the barter trade agreements with Afghanistan and Iran.
A technical supplementary grant to the tune of Rs540 million is likely to be given the nod for the National Institute of Health.

The participants of the meeting are also expected to approve a grant of Rs200 million for the housing and works ministry as well as Rs20 million for the economic development plan in Sindh.
The sources said the ECC was likely to approve a technical grant of Rs684 million for the Somali national identity system.

They added that meeting was also expected to issue a cash development loan grant for the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. In meeting held last week, the ECC had approved a summary moved by the finance ministry for the expansion of the Kamyab Pakistan Programme (KPP) across the country.
The ministry had said it had proposed the KPP’s expansion as per the already-approved features by the cabinet to enhance its outreach and impact

The wholesale lending partners – the Akhuwat Foundation and the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) – had told the finance minister last month that the disbursement remained low because the programme’s outreach was limited to two provinces and certain special areas only.

The ECC was informed that the first quarter of the KPP had been completed. The disbursements target for the first quarter was Rs30 billion but the NRSP and the Akhuwat Foundation disbursed loans worth Rs1.4 billion, which was 4.7% of the reduced target and 1% of the original target of Rs129 billion.

Although the finance minister has repeatedly been saying that Rs1.4 trillion worth of loans will be disbursed to millions of beneficiaries in three years, the government’s internal documents show that the actual programme size is Rs228 billion, which it plans to disburse among 738,000 people.