Household subsidy at govt stores raised

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday approved disbursement of monthly subsidy to Utility Stores Corporation (USC) at higher rate per household and turnover tax at 1.25 per cent on USC. A meeting of the ECC, presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, also approved another request of Ministry of Industries & Production to declare Warehousing and Logistic Sector as an industry. The meeting was told that an amount of Rs60 billion had been allocated in the budget for 2024-25 including Rs50bn under PM’s relief package and Rs10bn under Ramazan relief package. In recent weeks, the prices of some essential kitchen items had declined in the open market but stayed higher at Utility Stores Corpora­tion (USC). But generally, the prices of essential items, particularly those subsidised through USC, had gone up.