650,000 tonnes of wheat for Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa released.

ISLAMABAD -- Amid continuous rise in flour prices, the government on Wednesday decided to immediately release another 650,000 tonnes of wheat to Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to ease out demand and supply equilibrium in the market.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Economic Coordination ComAmittee (ECC) of the cabinet presided over by Prime Minister's Adviser on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh which also offered incremental power consumption at a flat rate of Rs11.91 per unit.

The ECC was informed that wheat flour price was continuously rising almost across the country due to an insignificant buffer in demand and supply situation. It was reported for example that national average for 20kg wheat four stood at Rs1,140 on October 26 compared Rs1,100 exactly a month ago in September.

Likewise, the 20kg price of flour was recorded at Rs1,050 on October 26 in Hyderabad compared to Rs1,000 on September 26 while 20kg flour price had increased from Rs750 on August 25 to Rs1,030 on October 26 in Faisalabad.

The ECC also approved a uniform seasonal pricing structure of 'Use more electricity-pay less'

The ECC noted the rising trend in wheat prices, and 'approved a proposal by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) for release of 300,000 tonnes each to governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh and 50,000 tonnes to the government of Balochistan,' an official statement said.

Rs2.75bn for Passco approved

The ECC also approved an amount of Rs2.745 billion to be paid to Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) as incidental charges at the ratio of 50:50 to be equally shared by the federal and respective provincial governments.

The latest release follows an earlier release of 250,000 tonnes of wheat to the governments of Sindh and KP governments - 100,000 tonnes for the former and 150,000 tonnes to the latter -from Passco stocks on an ECC decision taken in its meeting on Oct 2, 2019. The Passco incidental charges for the previous release had also been shared at the ratio of 50:50 equally by the federal and respective provincial governments.

The MNFSR informed the ECC that Passco and provincial food departments had reported their stocks at 6.44 million tonnes as compared to 10.09m tonnes of the corresponding period of the last year. However, despite the fact that the total availability of wheat this year was estimated at 28.26m tonnes, including the leftover stock of 3.78m...