ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: The United States will lend $100 million to Pakistan on soft terms for importing wheat till the harvest of the new crop in April and May.

An agreement to this effect would be finalised next week, a finance ministry official said.

President Asif Ali Zardari has allowed import of around 3.5 million tons of wheat to meet a gap in supply which may occur over the next five months, which are crucial keeping in view the history of supply problems.

The official said the US had promised the loan to help the government avert a possible wheat and flour crisis as had taken place during the same season last year.

The two sides signed an agreement here on Tuesday under which Pakistan will get 50,000 tons of US soft white wheat worth $18 million. The agreement is part of a $115 million US donation programme for Pakistan’s food sector. The remaining $97million will be used to support the private sector, improve agricultural techniques and marketing system, train farmers and develop agricultural business.

The US will bear the transportation cost of the donated wheat.Economic Affairs Secretary Farrukh Qayyum and US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson signed the agreement.

The donation has been made under the US agriculture department’s Food for Progress Act.

Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Mohammad Gondal, who briefed President Zardari on the situation on Monday, has said that the present government has imported 1.7 million tons of wheat. He said the year’s wheat import target would be met.

He said the previous government had imported three million tons of wheat last year despite initial official claims of a bumper crop.

The government has set a 21.5 million acres sowing target with an expected yield of 25 million tons. Last year, wheat crop on 21.4 million acres yielded around 23 million tons.

According to the agriculture ministry, 95 per cent of wheat sowing target has been met so far, which is 14 per cent more than the previous year.