ISLAMABAD: The government is set to begin removing restrictions on the import of “non-essential and luxury items” imposed on May 19 and provide energy at subsidised rates — electricity at nine cents per unit and gas at $9 per unit — throughout the current fiscal year to make the country’s exports competitive.
Sources told media that a special virtual meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had been scheduled for Sunday to approve the subsidised energy rates, but was then postponed at the last moment for a day to be merged with another huddle on Monday with important items on the table.
The sources said the government expected about $3 billion inflows from “some friends” during the current week and wanted to give a “confidence and feel-good sense to the market” by supporting five export-oriented sectors and simultaneously clearing import payables and gradually easing restrictions on most imports (except mobile phones and automobiles) imposed on about 85 items for a temporary period.
In consultation with energy and finance ministries and the export sectors, the commerce ministry has sought the supply of electricity at a final, all-inclusive rate of nine cents per unit (kilowatt-hour, or kWh) to five export-oriented sectors — jute, leather, carpet, surgical and sports goods — from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.
