April 05, 2008 Saturday Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

Half of Pakistanis ‘food insecure’, says WFP

ISLAMABAD, April 4: Nearly half of the country’s 160 million people are at risk of going short
of food due to a surge in prices, the UN World Food Programme said on Friday.

The WFP survey covering the year to March showed the number of people deemed “food
insecure” had risen 28 per cent to 77 million from 60 million in the previous year.

The WFP estimates that anyone consuming less than 2,350 calories per day is below the food
security line.

Sahib Haq, an official with the WFP’s Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping Unit in Pakistan, said
food prices rose at least 35 per cent in the past year compared with an 18 per cent rise in
minimum wages.

“There is a very big gap between the increase in prices and increase in wages ... the purchasing
power of the poor has gone down by almost 50 per cent,” Mr Haq said.

The latest findings comes a week after the World Bank urged Pakistan to make rapid adjustments
and reforms to avert an economic crisis as it reels from the impact of high prices for petroleum
and food.

The price of wheat flour in January was between Rs24-25 (38 US cents) per kg in three of
Pakistan’s four provinces, compared with Rs15 per kg in January 2007, the WFP said.

Prices have since moderated to around Rs17 but are expected to shoot up 40 per cent or more in
the coming months, according to grain industry officials.

“There will be a big crisis,” Mr Haq said. Wheat flour is used to make roti and naan, the flat
unleavened breads that are the central component of the diet.

Pakistan consumes about 22 million tonnes of wheat a year.

Prices for rice, vegetables and cooking oil have also risen sharply, and the economic hardships
faced by ordinary people played a big part in an election in February that resulted in President
Pervez Musharraf’s political allies being thrown out of government.

The new coalition government, which took power last month, raised the support price it pays
farmers to buy wheat to ensure adequate supplies, but Mr Haq said the move would result in
sharply higher flour prices in months ahead.

The consumer price index, a key indicator of inflation, rose 11.25 per cent in February from a
year ago, mainly due to food prices.

Due to the previous administration’s reluctance to reduce subsidies for food and fuel, the
government is saddled with a widening fiscal deficit. While wanting to alleviate the hardship of
the poor, the new government will face some painful economic choices.—Reuters

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