ISLAMABAD   -  The Economic Coordina­tion Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Friday approved proposal from the Ministry of Industries and Production regarding the further export of 0.100 million metric tons of surplus sugar.

The meeting was told that the price of sugar as per PBS data had shown a downward trend since July while suf­ficient stocks of sugar were available to meet domestic requirements up to January next year. After detailed dis­cussions and deliberations, the ECC approved the export in line with the terms and conditions already decided by the ECC in its meeting on 13 June 2024.

In another agenda item, the ECC also reviewed a pro­posal from the Ministry of Interior concerning the re­lease of funds through a Tech­nical Supplementary Grant for Project Implementation Letters of HQ Frontier Corps (FC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (South). The ECC gave ap­proval for the funds amount­ing to Rs 456.600 million, and it will be released as Grant-in-Aid to the Interior Division for onward disbursement to HQ FC (South) in D.I. Khan for construction of eight women facilities in tribal districts.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muham­mad Aurangzeb chaired the meeting of the Economic Co­ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet. At the outset, the minister for finance and revenue shared an update on the current economic situ­ation and macroeconomic stability achieved across all sectors of the economy. He said the currency was now in stable position with foreign exchanges at a 26-month high at the back of “very resilient and strong remittances flows”.

He said the IT exports had also stabilised at about 300 million monthly figure which was a great news for our ex­port sector. He also lauded a steady growth in the RDAs with 165 million dollars in­flows received last month.

He called the reduction in inflation to a single digit as a big story, hoping that in­flation would further come down when the September data is released.

He described the situa­tion with current account as very encouraging and noted the surplus of $75 mil­lion achieved in August. He hoped that with softer oil prices, a softer dollar and an aggressive rate cut which had already been reduced by 450bps, the current account situation would continue to be in a good position.

The minister also spoke about the rejection by the government of all bids for treasury bills on Wednesday, saying the move was aimed at conveying the message that the government was under no desperation to borrow, and if it were to borrow, it would borrow at its own terms.

He urged the banking sys­tem to focus on lending to the private sector. He said the 450bps cut in policy rate and the resultant ease in borrowing would help the government reduce its single largest expenditure of debt servicing, and create room for the banking sector to step up and lend aggressively to the private sector.

Senator Muhamamd Au­rangzeb also referred to the IMF Board meeting scheduled on 25th, saying that with the prayers of the nation and ef­forts made by the Prime Min­ister in association with bilat­eral partners, our local teams, administration and all our institutions, we would hear a good news on 25th and move on from there.

He noted that macroeco­nomic stability was not an end itself but a means to an end. He called it the basic hy­giene and the building blocks that provide foundation to the whole edifice. We would move in the right direction on the basis of this approach, and ensure gradual stability in the micro sectors as well, he added.

Later, during the meeting, the ECC considered a sum­mary from the Ministry of Industries and Production re­garding the export of 40,000 metric tons of sugar to Tajiki­stan. In principle, the ECC ap­proved the proposal; however, it directed that after further discussions with the Tajik entity, the final form of the sale agreement be brought back to the ECC for approval. Additionally, the Ministry of Industries and Production, in conjunction with the Trad­ing Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), will lead this process.