Inflationary pressures persist, ECC told

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, and Economic Affairs, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Sami Saeed, Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad, Minister for Power & Petroleum Muhammad Ali, Adviser to PM on Finance Dr. Waqar Masood, federal secretaries and other senior government officials of the relevant ministries.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives briefed the ECC on the inflation situation. The key price indicators were submitted for the information of ECC. It was told that inflationary pressures are continuing to persist; however, it declined from its peak of 38 percent in May 2023.

Recent energy price adjustments have thwarted downward trajectory and inflation spiked in November 2023 to 29.2 percent. Inflationary expectations are the lowest in almost 12 months and exchange rate stability has played an important role in it. The ECC considered a summary of the Ministry of Energy (Power Division) regarding approval of the draft PPAA, ICA, TDA & Mediation Agreements to be signed with the K-Electric. The Power Division informed the committee that the agreements had been prepared on the recommendations of Task Force constituted by the prime minister for resolving the issues between KE & various government entities. The signing of the agreements would resolve long pending issues and regular payment will be streamlined by all the parties to avoid an addition to the circular debt.

The ECC discussed the draft agreements in detail and asked the Power Division to provide further information and detailed working to clarify the observations raised by the ECC. The matter will be discussed again in the next meeting once the additional information is provided.

The ECC directed the relevant ministries to work with the provinces to ensure availability of fertilizer to farmers at notified rates. It was also directed that strict actions be taken against the fertilizer dealers for charging farmers beyond the prescribed price.