July 09, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 5, 1429

HYDERABAD, July 8: Federal Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar has said that government has decided to intervene to avert an impending sugar crisis following reports that millers had exported huge quantity of sugar. He said that government would itself procure sugar.

He was responding to journalists queries after attending a dinner hosted in his honour by DCO Hyderabad Ali Ahmed Lund on behalf of district government Hyderabad at the circuit house here on Monday night.

“The government is going to intervene in the matter and will procure sugar. We will not allow hoarding of sugar or any to corner the market. We will also not allow hoarding of sugar by any mafia which they had done in case of wheat”, he said when asked that millers had exported sugar abroad.

“If you consider inflation then there is five per cent cut in defence budget and it is debated for the first time”, he said when asked that PPP had been talking about slashing defence budget in the past but it was not reflected in the budget. He said that that this debate would reveal where are the gaps that would subsequently be looked into.

He admitted that oil prices had hit hard common man but still government is trying to help those living below the poverty line. He said that effects of fuel prices was being felt on the country’s reserves and government was fully alive to the situation. “We are trying to obtain oil on easy payments from different sources”, he remarked.

He disagreed with a questioner who suggested that industrialists from Kotri had decided to shift their units from here in the wake of December 27,2007 riots.

“Industries are not shifted overnight. Prices of petroleum products are showing surge internationally which are having effect on industrial inputs”, he said. He informed that that industries sector was also facing brunt of surge in oil prices.

Regarding privatisation deals, the minister, who also holds portfolio of privatisation, said that the privatisation process was being done in a transparent manner. He said that audit of other deals were being conducted and then Public Accounts Committees’ reports would be submitted to them.

About expenses of presidency, he said that budgetary allocations of president house were made by president himself, therefore, the government couldn’t make any cuts in them although it did reduce expenditures of the prime minister house and the National Assembly.

Earlier, speaking at the dinner the finance minister expressed his dissatisfaction over allocations for rural taluka of Hyderabad district under Hyderabad Development Package (HDP) and said that these would be reviewed. The rural taluka was not seen anywhere as far allocations are concerned but government defended HDP, he added. He promised to enhance allocations under HDP. He said that rural taluka would be compensated and schemes would included after consultations.

He said that soon after induction, PPP government found a big deficit in finance because there were several decisions that couldn’t be taken due to imposition of emergency and caretaker regime. He said that this situation keeps increase the deficit whereas prices of petroleum products increased three times adding that just one year back oil prices were $60 to $65 per barrel which rose to $150 per barrel.