ECC grants permission for wheat import

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has granted permission for wheat import in order to maintain stocks as per the requirement of the country, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The decision was taken in the session of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

According to the declaration, the committee allowed the concerned authorities to import wheat through tenders as per the requirement of the country.

During the meeting, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that the availability of wheat is an important matter and it is necessary to maintain stocks. He also directed ensuring the availability of wheat on affordable prices across the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, ECC had deferred the decision regarding the permission for importing wheat.

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The committee had given approval to grants to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), duty-free vehicles, railway and others.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had granted permission to import duty-free vehicles for differently-abled persons and increased the income criteria up to Rs200,000 per month in accordance with an amendment. The previous income criteria for differently-abled persons to purchase duty-free vehicles was ranging from Rs20,000 to Rs100,000 in a month. However, the committee imposed a condition for allowing those persons who have not purchased the duty-free vehicle since the last 10 years.

The decision for the establishment of Pakistan single-window company and its directors was approved. The committee had approved a technical supplementary grant of over Rs219 million for the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). An additional grant of Rs6 billion was granted to the Ministry of Railways which will be spent on salaries, pensions and necessary expenditures worth Rs500 million on a monthly basis. Moreover, the supplementary grant worth more than Rs96 million has been approved for seminaries.

The summary for the provision of Rs160 million supplementary grant to the Federal Ministry for Education and Professional Training had been approved for ‘Hunar Sub Ke Liye’ programme. The committee had approved to publish Rolling Spectrum Strategy 2020-23.