ECC approves wheat support-price at Rs1800 per 40-kg

Dunya News

ECC approved Rs.5552.049 million Technical Supplementary Grants for various ministries and divisions

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News): The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet Wednesday approved the revision of Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat crop 2020-21 at the rate of Rs.1800 per 40 Kg, Dunya News reported.

The Committee also approved the wheat procurement targets of PASSCO and Provincial Food Departments, in addition to allowing import of 3 MMT of wheat through Trading Corporation of Pakistan / GTG/Private Sector to meet the requirements of local consumers and build strategic reserves.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved Rs.5552.049 million Technical Supplementary Grants (TSG) for various ministries and divisions.

According to press statement issued by the Finance Ministry, the cabinet committee, the meeting of which was chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Hammad Azhar, approved Rs. 630.808 million for the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training for the project titled “Establishment & Operation of Basic Education Community Schools.

The committee also approved Rs.370.762 million for the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training for meeting expenditure related to various Educational Institutions/Area Education Offices; Rs. 600 million for “Award of Allama Muhammad Iqbal 3000 Scholarships to students from Afghanistan” by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Rs 128.7 million for the Ministry of Housing and Works for execution of development Schemes in the Sindh Province.

An amount of Rs.2 billion was approved for Prime Minister’s Low Cost Housing Scheme; Rs.450 million for construction of new building of Supreme Court, Branch Registry at Karachi and Rs. 1.2 billion for Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

Likewise, Rs.22.59 million grant was approved for the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for making payments pending under wheat freight subsidy scheme 2016-17; Rs.49.189 million for the Privatization Commission for meeting various operational expenses; Rs.50 million to the Ministry of Energy for execution of gas development schemes in the Sindh Province and Rs. 50 million to HEC for payment of educational expense of 90 Afghan students enrolled under project titled “Award of 3000 Scholarships to Students from Afghanistan under PM Directives”.

The committee approved Petroleum Division’s summary regarding reduction in Gasoline tariff of PARCO’s Mehmoodkot-Faisalabad-Machike (MFM) pipeline @ 85% of the prevalent railway tariff.

ECC allowed the commercial import of white sugar from India up to 500,000 MT till 30-6-2021 through land and sea routes, on the basis of quota issued by the Ministry of Commerce. The decision would be time and cost effective and would also stabilize the prices of sugar in the domestic markets.

ECC also approved the registration of Pakistan’s “Pink Rock Salt” as Geographical Indications (GI) with Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) to be notified as “Registrant”.

Registration of Pink Salt as a GI of Pakistan would promote and enhance national and international trade, stimulate global demand and attract premium price for Pakistan.