Finance Minister Asad Umar to chair ECC meeting on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar will chair the first Economic Coordination (ECC) meeting of the government on Wednesday. The meeting will discuss a five-point agenda.

1. Circular debt and its impact on the power sector
   
2. Gas pricing
   
3. Financial health of Pakistan State Oil and liquidity position
   
4. DAP situation for the Kharif crop
   
5. Measures to address a shortage of urea fertilizer 

On Monday, Prime Minister Imran constituted a 12-member ECC and appointed Asad Umar chairman.

A notification issued by the cabinet division stated Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Petroleum Minister Ghulam Abbasi, Planning and Development Minister Khusro Bakhtiar and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid were appointed to the ECC. The committee will also include prime minister’s advisors Razak Dawood and Dr Ishrat Hussain

In addition, six more ministers — communications, national food security, power, privatisation, statistics and water resources — will also be part of the ECC after their appointment.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Asad Umar stressed that the most pressing challenge facing Pakistan was the country's depleting foreign exchange reserves.

“We are facing a $2 billion deficit monthly for the last four months in the foreign exchange account. This is the immediate challenge,” Umar told reporters.

Pakistan had loans worth $94 billion, the finance minister said, so no decision had been taken by the government on approaching the International Monetary Fund.