The cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee approved a raise in the prices of sugar, wheat flour and ghee sold at the Utility Stores across the country.

The revised prices are: sugar to Rs85 a killo, a 20 kilo bag of wheat flour for Rs950 and Rs260 for a kilo of ghee. The increase in percentage works out to 25%, 19% and 53%, respectively.

The recommendation for the increase in prices came from the Ministry of Industries and Production.

An official statement said the prices were revised owing to an increasing gap between the subsidised prices offered by the USC and the prevailing market prices.

Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin was chairing a meeting of the committee on Friday and also approved the import of 200,000 tons of sugar to build strategic reserves, a subsidy on DAP fertiliser for cotton and rice crops and procurement of 200,000 cotton bales by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

The ECC approved the telecom ministry's directives for the auction of Next Generation Mobile Services AJK. This is likely to improve broadband service in the region.

The ECC approved Kamyab Pakistan Programme which will provide micro-loans to entrepreneurs and farmers under Kamyab Karobar and Kamyab Kissan schemes, respectively. The scheme shall also provide low-cost housing loans.

As reported by Dawn, "the ECC also allowed the PQA, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) Boards to transfer their marine assets to the Pakistan Marine and Shipping Services Company Private Limited (PMSSC), a subsidiary of Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC)."