The second round of the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s Apex Committee huddle presided over by caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar is underway in Islamabad, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday.

The Apex Committee’s meeting is being attended by the civil and military leadership.

The huddle is taking stock of the matters related to investment in the country.

During the yesterday’s meeting which lasted for almost six hours, the huddle was briefed about the plan of action to remove the obstacles in the way of local and foreign investment in the country and a roadmap was drawn up for dealing with economic and administrative challenges and for the development of the country's economy.

The participants were informed about the comprehensive plan to make the regulation effective. The moot mulled over short, medium and long-term planning to achieve the goals of economic development under the Special Investment Facilitation Council.

The prime minister issued directives to step up efforts to bring in economic betterment and the action plan be enforced within the specified period.

He urged the minister to ensure the implementation.

He said: “Despite the short tenure of the caretaker government, we have to ensure the implementation of the economic recovery plan.

"The implementation of these measures will make it easier for the elected government to implement the programme to restore the country's economy.”

The caretaker ministers for information, finance and commerce briefed the media about the meeting.

Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said the apex committee pondered over practical steps to bring down government expenditure and circular debt on the first day of the two-day meeting.

Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said that fresh inflows from multilaterals were expected to be around $6bn during the year, terming the situation ‘reasonably ok for now’.

Caretaker Minister for Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali said that increasing gas rates “across the board” ahead of winter was inevitable to contain the gas-sector circular debt growing at the rate of Rs350 billion per year.

The caretaker ministers said that government intended to revitalise an economy that’s seen months of decline due to strict import regulations.

The ministers also emphasised on the long-term policy decisions, vowing to uphold all international agreements while preventing their misuse against national interests.

Reporter Awais Kiyani