ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Monday gave a go-ahead for increasing the gas prices.

The meeting was presided over by Finance Minister Asad Umar.

He directed to pour minimal load on poor domestic consumers of gas while the hike has been finalized for the elite class.

Moreover; the tax on the import of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has been minimized by 10 percent. Sources say that LPG prices will decrease through imports.

At present, SNGPL and SSGCL are facing a loss of Rs156 billion each year due to the subsidy given on gas prices. Ogra has determined Rs275 billion revenue requirements for SNGPL and Rs211 billion for SSGC. This includes Rs29.4 billion previous year’s shortfall of SNGPL.

On September 10, ECC had postponed the decision regarding further increase in gas prices. It concluded that additional discussions will be held with all stake holders on the matter and the price of gas will be set after getting suggestions from users.

The meeting also decided to to import 1,00,000 tons of urea fertilizer to provide relief to farmers.

The 12-member ECC includes Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Petroleum Minister Ghulam Abbasi, Planning and Development Minister Khusro Bakhtiar and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid. The committee also includes prime minister’s advisors Razak Dawood and Dr Ishrat Hussain

In addition, six more ministers — communications, national food security, power, privatisation, statistics and water resources — are part of the ECC.