ECC moves to stabilize Wheat supply, prices

By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD: Finance advisor to prime minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh chaired Economic Coordination Committee session on Friday to deliberate over wheat supply and prices across the country.
According to the press statement issued to underscore the meeting agenda, important decisions were made in line with the government’s priorities to stabilize smooth wheat supply and regulate prices of the commodity being the most essential one.
Finance advisor Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has constituted a coordination committee to oversee the supply and due provision of wheat across Pakistan.
ECC session today has decided a support price for 40 kilograms of wheat to be Rs1650 and has instructed the authorities to supply 38,000 metric tons of wheat to flour mills daily.
For Punjab the share of wheat will be 25,000 metric tons, followed by Sindh with 8 metric tons, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa four thousand metric tons, and Balochistan trailing with one thousand metric tons of wheat daily. It may be noted that the same ECC session has decided to maintain the regular price of 40 kg of wheat at Rs1475.
Earlier Thursday, taking notice over steps taken by his government to ensure the availability of essential commodities in the country Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a session and deliberated over the efficacy of steps taken to reduce the prices of essential commodities.
PM Khan said the availability of essential commodities and their price range is to be decided by provincial governments and noted that it is due to the grievances of poor people that he took the task upon him to sort things out.