ECC okays 0.5 m tonnes wheat import for Pakistan
Pakistan Times Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed the Commerce Ministry to follow up the initiatives taken by the President with Latin American, United States and European countries.

Presiding over at the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting Thursday the PM pointed out that the visit of the President would help improve Pakistan’s image and attract trade and investment besides improving political and diplomatic relations with these countries. Mr Aziz said President’s role in projecting Pakistan’s case for increased market access, would yield very positive results. This would not only help in expansion of industrial sector but also create more investment and job opportunities in the country.

Later, briefing newsmen about the decisions taken by the ECC, the Economic Advisor Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan said the ECC decided to import 500,000 tonnes wheat to maintain its prices and ensure proper supply in the market. The Committee also decided to impose ban on export of all types of fertilizer except by the UN Agencies.

Cabinet Committee

It approved establishment of a Cabinet Committee on agriculture for better coordination among center and provinces in dealing with the affairs of Agriculture sector for economic growth and benefit of the people.

The Committee will be headed by the Prime Minister himself. Other members of the agriculture committee would be Federal Minister for Agriculture, Chief Ministers of all the four provinces, Governor State Bank, Chairman Zarai Tarqiati Bank and Agriculture Ministers of the provinces.

Dr Ashfaq said the government is giving high priority to the agriculture sector as it contributes 23 per cent of GDP and employs over 42 per cent workforce in the country.

He referred to the recent speech of the Prime Minister in which he focused on agriculture sector in order to accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty and provide employment opportunities to the people especially those living in rural areas.

He added that the government had already imported one million tones of wheat to control prices and augment the stock position of the commodity in the country.

The ECC took stock of slackness of NWFP and Balochistan governments by not lifting the imported wheat of over 130000 tonnes from the port.

The ECC also directed Pakistan Railways and National Logistic Cell (NLC) to arrange wagons for the lifting of the remaining stock of the two provinces as soon as possible.

The minister lauded the role of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) for intervening to procure cotton from the farmers.

As a result of the government’s timely intervention, the farmers got due price for their cotton, he remarked.

Dr Ashfaq Hassan Khan said that as a result of timely intervention of the government and the efforts of the TCP, the cotton growers have fetched an additional amount of Rs. 30 billion in the country. He said that ECC also reviewed the price situation of various commodities and expressed its satisfaction that during the past two weeks, the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) has registered a decline.

Of price hike

He attributed the decline in prices of different items to the strict measures taken by the government to check price hike.

About revenue position, he said that Central Board of Revenue has collected a provisional amount of Rs. 203.7 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal year against the target of Rs.193 billion and has shown 20 per cent increase as compared to the same period last year.

Dr Ashfaq said that due to realistic investment and investors friendly policies, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country has picked-up, and during the July -October of current financial year has increased by 16 per cent.

He said the ECC also reviewed the foreign exchange reserves position, exchange rate and import and export growth. He added that ECC hoped that foreign exchange inflow will further improve in the coming months.

About the reported trade deficit of US $ 2.5 billion, he clarified that it was because of investment driven imports of machinery and raw materials.

This, he said reflected that private sector investment is growing and would generate more economic activities in the country and enhance economic growth.

He added that this activity shows that Foreign Exchange Reserves of US $ 12 billion accumulated are being utilized for the benefit of the people.

It was also decided to reduce sales tax on domestic air travelling from twenty per cent to fifteen per cent which would benefit air passengers.

The committee decided to resume work on Saindak project and enhance its production capacity by thirty per cent through an additional investment of twenty-two million dollars.●