Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to hand over the chairmanship of the Economic Coordination Committee to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, reversing an earlier decision.

A notification issued on Saturday said that the ECC will now be headed by the finance minister with ministers for economic affairs, planning, commerce, power and petroleum as members.

Shehbaz had earlier announced the composition of seven major committees, announcing that he would chair the ECC himself.

The move had been criticised as a measure to clip the powers of the new finance minister, who has traditionally headed the committee.

Aurangzeb had also been deprived of the chairmanship of the privatisation committee, which has been handed over to foreign finance and current foreign minister Ishaq Dar.

Shehbaz will still retain the chairmanship of the Cabinet Committee on Energy, according to a report by Dawn.

The report added that the ECC had been handed over to Aurangzeb as it would be hard for Shehbaz to fit it in his ‘hectic schedule’.