ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Friday raised the support price of wheat from Rs400 to Rs415 per 40kg for the forthcoming crop aimed at encouraging farmers to grow more.
Briefing newsmen after the ECC meeting, Dr Ashfaque Hassan Khan, adviser to the finance ministry, said that the decision had been taken on the recommendation of the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal).
The adviser said that the government would now release its wheat stocks to flour mills at issue price, which had been fixed at Rs425 per 40kg as against the earlier price of Rs400 per 40kg.
Mr Khan said the ECC also approved Rs50 million for “grow more wheat” campaign launched by the ministry to achieve the objective of increasing the wheat produce.
This decision, the adviser said, would encourage farmers to grow more wheat and would help more supply of the commodity in the market and stabilize its prices.
He said the ECC also decided to allow import of 0.2 million tons of urea by the private sector. Earlier, the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was only allowed to import it.
He said that a committee had been constituted to devise a mechanism for the import of urea by the private sector. The committee, to be headed by Dr Muhammad Akram Sheikh, deputy chairman of Planning Commission, would include CBR chairman Abdullah Yousuf and representatives from Minfal and ministry of finance as its members.
The country’s total urea consumption stood at 2.6 million tons while the local production was 2.2 million tons. The shortfall was met through imports.
Mr Khan said that the ECC also reviewed the prices of essential food items and observed that the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) had shown a decline of 0.66 per cent for the week ended October 13, 2005 over the same period last year.
The adviser said that the prime minister had directed the stakeholders concerned to carefully watch the prices of essential commodities.
The ECC observed that prices of 10 items registered an increase, 15 items including tomatoes, onions, chicken, beef and potatoes showed decline while 28 items remained unchanged during the week.
It also noted that prices of tomato fell to Rs13.90 which stood at Rs26.57 on October 6. Similarly, the rates of onions declined to Rs13.28 per kg from Rs15.57.
It was informed that donations only to the “President Relief Fund for Earthquake 2005” were exempted from tax.
