Islamabad - The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet will today (Wednesday) consider summary for increasing the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat crop by around 2.56 percent for 2019-20. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet in its meeting will also consider summary of the petroleum division for ease of doing business in upstream petroleum Sector, said agenda of the ECC meeting available with The Nation. The ECC will meet here with adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will ponder over a four point agenda including a summary of the Information Technology and Telecommunication regarding National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) budget-revised estimates 2018-19 and budget estimates 2019-20.Summary for the approval for SAR 22.5 million equity investment abroad by Eastern Products Pvt(Ltd), Pakistan is also on the agenda of the meeting. A summary of the petroleum division for ease of doing business in upstream petroleum Sector will be discussed in the meeting. It is worth to mention here that ECC had last year approved several amendments in the rules governing the regulation of upstream petroleum sector to encourage investment in the sector.
A summary of the National Food Security for the increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat crop for 2019-20 will also be discussed in the meeting. The Wheat Review Committee in a meeting on Monday had recommended an increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat crop 2019-20 from Rs1365 per 40 kg to Rs1400. The total wheat procurement target is 8.25 Million tons including 1.80 MMT by PASSCO, 4.50 MMT by Punjab, 1.40 MMT by Sindh, 0.45 MMT by KP and 0.10 MMT by Balochistan.
Wheat procurement in the country will start from mid of the ongoing month. Sindh will start wheat procurement process from 15th March, whereas Punjab is expected to begin procuring in April. This season the government is likely to allow KP to procure wheat from adjoining districts of Punjab province.
