The Economic Coordination Committee has proposed 1600 rupees as minimum support price for next year's wheat crop.

The decision to this respect was taken at a ECC meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister's Adviser Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in the chair.

It was briefed to the ECC that the support price mechanism plays a pivotal role in boosting wheat production as it stabilizes market and increases profitability of the farmers.

Since 2010-2011, MSP for wheat has been revised 4 times.

The new price which has been decided by the ECC is close to the price recommended by Punjab, which is the largest producer of wheat in the country.

The ECC was also apprised of the Status of wheat import by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

The forum was briefed that till January next TCP shall be able to secure 1 million metric tons of wheat through international bidding.

The ECC also decided that the initial allocation of TCP for the import of 1.50 MMT of wheat may be enhanced to 1.80 MMT.

It was also decided that 300,000 MT of wheat shall be imported on G2G basis from the Russian Federation by PASSCO.

ECC also decided to release 50 percent of the tariff differential subsidy to the Power Division.

ECC granted approval for the sale of surplus power available at the incremental rate of 12.96 rupees/kwh to all industrial consumer categories, excluding zero-rated industrial consumers, on the incremental consumption over their respective historical consumption or established benchmark. 

The ECC also formed a committee consisting of Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Dr. Waqar Masood, Minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar, Federal Minister for Power, Omer Ayub, SAPM Nadeem Babar and SAPM Tabish Gohar to prepare a proposal to include K-Electric in the package.

The Committee will also propose whether the package shall continue for one year or three years.