PM Shehbaz hands over ECC chair to finance minister Aurangzeb

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reversing his earlier decision, has handed over the chairmanship of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Aaj News reported on Sunday.

According to a notification, the ECC will be now headed by the finance minister with ministers of economic affairs, planning, commerce, power, and petroleum being a part of the committee.

Shehbaz had previously announced the composition of seven major committees, announcing himself as the chair of the ECC.

The decision had been criticised as a measure to limit the powers of the new finance minister.

Earlier, the premier had also decided to chair the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE).

Similarly, the premier had earlier constituted the Cabinet Committee on State-owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) under the chairmanship of the finance minister.

The Minister for Finance would be the chairman of the CCoSOEs while ministers of Maritime Affairs, Economic Affairs Division, Science and Technology, and Housing and Works would be its members.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday the government was going to take tough economic decisions to steer the country out of crisis assuring the protection of downtrodden segments of the society, state-run APP reported.

He said that the burden of these measures would primarily fall on the wealthy and elite, with safeguards in place to protect the interests of the poor and vulnerable.

Addressing the meeting of the Apex Committee of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) here, the prime minister said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had concluded the review for issuance of the last tranche of US$1.1 billion that hopefully be received by the next month.