"YouTube Channel Name: ****- M JUNAID KHAN STENOGRAPHER €***** The Dawn Editorial 20: “Wheat Price” Total Words= 365 + (fo join Whatsapp Paid Group @ 100 Rupees monthly charges contact me on Whatsapp 03139790393) 2 OurAeadem Pak Stortand and Typing Academy, near Amin Colony Chow, Kobat Raa, Peshawar {By Joni Khon, Senor Seale Sengrapher (BPS16) Ci Sera KP Pshavar Contact #031-979393 /030¢ 9012328 ENGLISH SHORTHAND THE government's decision to raise the wheat Re adler wal PS ZRRAI | release price, or the rate at which provinces issue | their grain stocks to flour mills to control retail flour no > Sete a: e of 4 prices, by almost a third to Rs 1,950 per 40 kg from | | Rs 1,475 last year is consistent with its policy of |@\%, SSS > 9 v4, 1950\ ez aS slashing open-ended food subsidies to lesen the | 4, burden on its budget. Also, the government did not LS GS SS ta fy a : | | have much of a choice but to jack up the issuance Sa Ost ko price after increasing the commodity’s procurement : | price to Rs 1,800 per 40 kg from Rs 1,400 forthe lat So a) Nao SF 18 G07 | harvest earlier this year. | tee PNT Gs lo last year alone, the provinces collectively |p. © ote Y X44 | bore a subsidy bill of nearly Rs 100 billion on | account of the expenditure on procurement mS Sean fed Dien tn S | storage of their wheat stocks, According to the APES 407 GP federal finance minister, the government stood to lose Rs 650 per 40 kg this year if it did not enhance | ¢ ae u , ft, NWO > oN | the wheat release price. Even now, he contended, = | the provinces would still be "bearing nearly Rs 100 |\~ —“l_ \ 4o7 Apt Lio So | per 40 kg in subsidy’ to hold the retail flour prices. 5 T |3. Given the provinces’ growing accumulation fy, ~~“ 3: f a | of debt on account of food operations, the need for a ur | wheat procurement and pricing reforms cannot be | w; =o N—e> © Se Ana Mp: overemphasised. In Punjab alone, the food circular | debt has jumped to Rs 560 billion, equal to its Wot oft haf MB, | development expenditure target for the current se | fiscal. Unless the provinces restrict their wheat wat Meo To, | operations to purchasing minimum quantities for |‘) | maintaining a reasonable buffer stock for market interventions in times of shortages and start recovering their costs in full, it may become impossible for them to manage their food debt. i | 4. But such reforms are difficult to implement | and sustain in the absence of a strong mechanism “to provide targeted food subsidies to low-income | households suffering because of rising inflation. The | average wheat flour price has shot up by 20 per cent in the last one year despite government | subsidy, Likewise the prices of other kitchen | essentials consumed by low-income families have | risen by over 13 per cent in one year, according to yt | official inflation data, at a time when the publi’s (*, e7sy]> tba, oe purchasing power is under stress. it ee ee ee ee RS Email: mjunaidkhan1992@gmailcom / Blogger: https://pstcacademy.blogspot.com