Measures taken to ensure availability of wheat, flour throughout year: Hafeez Shaikh

August 17, 2020: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Monday said the government would take all out measures to ensure availability of sufficient wheat and flour to the masses throughout the year.

He made this statement while chairing a meeting held at the Finance Division to review the situation, availability and future demand of wheat and flour in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz, Federal Secretary Finance Naveed Kamran Baloch, Secretary National Food Security & Research Omar Hamid Khan were also present, according to press statement issue by Finance Ministry.

The meeting reviewed the current wheat situation in the province in detail, particularly existing stocks in the public sector and requirement for the province until the next harvest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and decided to take appropriate measures to ensure sufficient supply and availability of wheat and flour in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the coming months.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz told the meeting that the provincial government had about 0.6 million tonnes of wheat in its stocks while it had recently procured 100,000 tonnes of wheat from PASSCO while procurement of another 100,000 tonnes from it was in the process.

He said the provincial authorities planned to procure another 300,000 tonnes of wheat from the PASSCO for which they were already in touch with the body. Similarly, they had plans to import 300,000 tonnes of wheat.

The chief secretary said the provincial government aimed to have at least 1.5 million tones of wheat in its own stocks, and the same quantity was likely to be supplied by the private parties to the local market to meet the estimated 3 million tones of wheat requirement for the province until the start of next harvest.

APP