Islamabad/Lahore:
The Federal Government has intensified efforts to stabilize prices and address strong agricultural losses caused by recent floods that have devastated millions of permanent crops throughout the country.
By chairing the second meeting of the Inflation Management Committee in Islamabad on Thursday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurengzeb said that controlling inflation and the guarantee of prices stability remained among the most important priorities of the government to provide relief to households and low -income families affected by floods.
Senior officials of the Ministries of Finance, Energy, Petroleum, Planning, National Food Security, the State Bank, the Statistics Office and the Institute of Sustainable Development Policy (SDPI) attended the meeting.
The Committee, formed in the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has the task of monitoring inflationary pressures, coordinating federal-provincial policy measures and guaranteeing timely administrative decisions.
The meeting reviewed the entire basket of food products and recent changes in the delicate price index (SPI). The authorities reported that while adequate wheat existences, in addition to strategic reserves, were available, initial evaluations suggested that damage to rice and sugar cane crops was manageable.
However, the Minister of Finance emphasized strict monitoring to stop artificial price increases and requested effective action against market speculation. Preparations for the next planting season were also discussed, with instructions to guarantee the timely provision of seeds and supplies.
The Committee instructed the NDMA, to supply the statistics office to work with the provincial governments to perform damage assessments for precise and timely crops. It will meet next week to review progress and make more decisions aimed at stabilizing prices.
Meanwhile, the National Minister of Food Security, Rana Tanveer, has initiated consultations with provincial governments about crop losses. The sources confirmed that he will meet with Sindh’s prime minister, Murad Ali Shah, Sunday and is also expected to have conversations with Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz, together with the Secretary and Secretary of Provincial Food.
The meetings will review the agricultural damage induced by flooding and rain, will consider help measures for farmers and deliberate on a possible new import policy for fruits, vegetables and other products to avoid food shortage.
The devastation has been particularly severe in Punjab, where recent floods destroyed crops in approximately 2,125 million acres of farmland, according to the sources of the Department of Provincial Agriculture. The main crops include cotton, rice, sugar cane, fodder, corn and vegetables.
The authorities said 110,850 cotton acres, 970,929 rice acres, 186,419 corn acres, 220,344 sugarcane acres, 450,000 fodder acres and 115,260 vegetable acres in recent floods in Punjab. (With application tickets)
