Islamabad: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar appointed as deputy chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday.
PM Sharif elevated Dar, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, to the position of alternate chairman, just two weeks after the constitution of ECNEC.
Shehbaz Sharif has kept the post of Ecnec chairman after some resistance to making Dar the head of the committee two weeks ago.
The Cabinet announced on Friday, “In the absence of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will chair the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.”
Ecnec is mandated to make decisions on economic and development plans. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will sit under the chairmanship of Dar.
Dar’s position as the party’s economic czar strengthened due to the poor handling of the federal budget. Eyebrows were also raised over an attempt to quietly grant Rs60 billion to Rs90 billion in income tax relief to banks.
Deputy Prime Minister Dar played a role and briefed the PM about the move to give the tax favour. As a result, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had to drop the proposal from the final Finance Act 2024, which the National Assembly approved on Friday.
Ecnec has a total of eight members – four from the centre and one each from four provinces.
Ecnec is a crucial body mainly at a time when the coalition government is banking on the support of different political parties. The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) has secured the allocation of Rs65 billion in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in return for its vote for the budget.
Punjab’s Senior Minister for Planning Marriyum Aurangzeb is a member of Ecnec. From Sindh, Jam Khan Shoro, from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Adviser to Chief Minister Muzammil Aslam and from Balochistan, Finance Minister Shoaib Nosherwani are members of Ecnec.
Ecnec has the mandate to approve mega development projects of Rs7.5 billion and above. In its initial meeting, Ecnec is expected to take up the $6.7 billion Mainline-I railway project, $2 billion Karakoram Highway project along with other mega schemes approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) but required the final nod of Ecnec.
Although the finance minister is a member of Ecnec, he would not have the final say in matters that will have serious implications for the budget.
