The government has increased the minimum support price for wheat by 13 percent, setting a public sector procurement target of 6.9 million tonnes having the cost of Rs 376 billion.
A meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was held, during which the decision was made. In addition to the finance minister, out of the 14 ECC members, only two joined the meeting.
The meeting further accepted Rs 79 billion funds, mutually shared by provinces, for fertilizers and payments to Chinese power producers.
The Ministry of National Food Security and Research presented a summary and the meeting permitted the increase in the minimum support price to Rs 2,200 from Rs 1,950 per 40 kilograms for wheat crop 2021-22. A wheat procurement target of 6.9 million tonnes for the crop having a total cost of Rs 375.7 billion was also set by ECC.
In this regard, Punjab was given the wheat procurement target of 4million tonnes, with a cash credit limit of Rs 229 billion. While wheat procurement target for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was set at 200,000 tonnes from the Punjab food department with their own financial arrangements.
The Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) was set a target of 1.2 million tonnes with its cash credit limit also revised to Rs 72.5 billion from the earlier limit of Rs 65 billion because of an increase in the support price.
Moreover, the ECC also gave a target of 1.4 million tonnes for wheat procurement to Sindh, at a total cash credit limit of Rs 77 billion. The procurement target for Balochistan was set at 100,000 million tonnes, having a Rs 6.2 billion cash credit limit.
The summit was briefed that the federal government had already provided Rs 3.89 billion to the Sindh government and Rs 541 million to the Balochistan government.
Regarding the subsidy disbursement, the meeting approved the proposal until June 30, 2022.
Additionally, the ECC meeting also gave approval for a Rs 50 billion supplementary grant to the power division for making a special revolving fund meant for immediate payments to independent power producers established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
