Amidst reports of flour and sugar shortages across the country, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved the reduction in prices of flour, sugar and vegetable oil/ghee at outlets of utility stores.
The ECC meeting, chaired by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, approved the revision of prices of flour and sugar from Rs950 per 20 kg to Rs800 and Rs85 per kg to Rs70 respectively to provide relief to consumers.
The meeting also said that a discount of Rs190 per kg on vegetable ghee will continue and the government will continue to absorb the cost of the subsidy.
The ECC also directed the Utility Store Corporation to continue selling commodities at a cheaper rate as commodities of the Ramazan relief package were already available at the outlets.
The ECC also approved to import of 3 million tonnes of wheat and 1.5 million tonnes of domestic procurement to stabilise the local wheat market.
The Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) told the meeting that the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) and the Punjab government have met their wheat procurement targets of 1.20 million tonnes and 4 million tonnes, respectively.
The ECC asked the PASSCO to procure an additional 0.50 million tonnes and the Punjab food department to procure an additional 1 million tonnes in the wake of low production of wheat in the country due to the previous government’s failure to provide fertilisers to the growers on time.
The ECC said that the Sindh government would be asked to procure an additional quantity of wheat once it met the current procurement target.
According to a report in a leading newspaper, the MNFSR also demanded approval of duty- and tax-free import of 3 million tonnes of wheat, including 2 million tonnes on a government-to-government (G2G) basis from Russia and 1m tonnes through an international competitive tender. It had also suggested that in case of difficulties in arranging wheat from Russia on a G2G basis because of sanctions or otherwise, the entire 3m tonnes quantity should be arranged through international tenders with following procurement rules as an already given exemption by the cabinet.
“Keeping in view the current world scenario, its effects on the world economy and the demand-supply situation of wheat in the country, the ECC allowed 3 million tonnes of import on a need basis, depending on the demand of PASSCO and the provincial governments to build up strategic reserves and to stabilise wheat prices in the country. The ECC directed the authorities concerned to frame modalities for financing and procurement,” it said.
