Asad Umar chairs ECC meeting, to discuss Economic Zones

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) began on Monday with Finance Minister Asad Umar in chair, ARY News reported.

The cabinet committee will discuss a two-point agenda in its session today.

The ECC will be given a briefing on the Economic Zones.

The participants will also discuss the ways to provide job opportunities to the workers in overseas and a strategy for better wages in the meeting.

The committee will also review the economic statistics and other issues related with the economy.

The ECC in its previous meeting last week approved issuance of Sukuk bonds to repay circular debt.

According to the decision of the committee the government will issue two billion rupees Sukuk bonds.

The Sukuk bonds will be released through a consortium of Islamic banks.

The circular debt of the energy sector has soared to 1400 billion rupees.

The ECC meeting also approved export of 0.5 million tonnes of surplus wheat.

The ECC in its meeting discussed net hydel profit and the budget of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation.

Economic Coordination Committee

The ECC is a committee of federal cabinet, often chaired by the minister of finance, is a consultative forum for concerning matters of state’s economic security, geo-economic, political economic and financial endowment issues.

Although it is often chaired by the Finance Minister and the senior economic officials as its members on multiple occasions, the executive authorization on key economic policies are made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan who reserves the right call upon and serves as the chairman of the ECC.