ECC approves wheat offloading, sector funding

January 28, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body on Wednesday approved the offloading of 500,000 metric tons of government-held wheat and sanctioned more than Rs66bn in supplementary grants.

The moves are aimed at easing pressure on food prices, reducing fiscal costs and keeping essential public services running.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), chaired by Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, allowed the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to dispose of surplus wheat stocks through competitive bidding.

The decision is intended to cut mounting storage and carrying costs while supporting price stability in the domestic wheat market, a key concern amid persistent food inflation and tight household budgets.

As part of the same effort to manage wheat supplies, the ECC also approved the release of 300,000 metric tons of PASSCO wheat to Punjab’s Food and Consumer Protection Department to ensure uninterrupted supplies to flour mills and avoid shortages of wheat flour.

Beyond food security, the committee cleared several large Technical Supplementary Grants (TSGs) to address long-pending liabilities and priority social spending.

It approved Rs10.98bn to settle outstanding dues of utility companies payable by the Pakistan Post Office Department, liabilities that have accumulated over several years and strained the finances of public entities, according to the press release. 

In the health sector, the ECC sanctioned Rs29.66bn for the Federal Directorate of Immunization to ensure continued procurement of vaccines and syringes under the Expanded Programme on Immunization.

The funding is critical to maintaining routine immunization coverage, preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases and meeting Pakistan’s international public health commitments.

The committee also agreed to share the subsidy burden on imported urea between the federal and provincial governments on a 50:50 basis, approving a TSG of Rs23.42 billion requested by the Ministry of Commerce.

Of this amount, Rs15 billion will be released immediately by the Finance Division, with the remaining amount to be arranged subject to available fiscal space.s

Additional approvals included Rs1.9bn for development schemes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme and Rs150m for operational and development needs of Cadet College Hasan Abdal.

They also covered the transfer of confiscated solar panels to the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The solar panels, along with an approved transport and distribution plan, are expected to help ease electricity shortages in the region and support renewable energy use in public facilities.

The series of decisions comes as the government balances fiscal consolidation with the need to stabilize key markets such as wheat and fertilizer, support health and education services, and manage the financial health of state-owned entities.

Copyright Mettis Link News