ISLAMABAD, Nov 5 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday said the country has sufficient stock of sugar to meet the demand for next 22 days.
The current stock of sugar is 130,000 tonnes which is enough for next 22 days and after 22 days, the sugar crushing season will start in Punjab, the minster told the media.
Quoting data of ministry of industries, he said, 15,000 tonnes sugar is consumed per day in the country out of which domestic consumers consume 6,000 tonnes, while 9,000 tonnes is used by the industrial sector including beverage companies.
Flanked by Minister for National Food Security and Research Fakhar Imam, he said the Sindh government was not releasing wheat which resulted into price hike of the edible in Sindh in general and in Karachi in particular.
Likewise, he said the crushing of sugar was yet to start in Sindh where the sugarcane crops’ yield arrived earlier than other parts of the country which ultimately put the overall pressure on the commodity’s price.
Another reason for spike in sugar prices was financial speculation in the market, he added.
“As you know, most of the sugar mills in Sindh are working under Asif Ali Zardari, while in Punjab, they are owned by the Sharif family,” he said, adding unfortunately, the private sector held their stock which stood at 90,000 tonnes.
About the action taken by the government against sugar hoarding, he said, “We fixed the price of sugar at Rs 90 per kg which also included Rs 16 per kg profit for sugar mills.”
Private sugar mill owners sought stay order from the courts on government actions for getting sugar stock released from their godown, he said.
“The matter is now pending in the court,” he said, appealing to the judiciary to decide the cases on merit at the earliest so that the government could overcome crisis like situation and pass on the relief to the public.
“We are not asking ‘the court’ to give the decision in favor of the government….at least start proceeding,” he said, adding the stay on the matter of national importance created major problems.
Expressing hope for starting of sugar crushing in Punjab, he said the Sindh government had to start crushing from November 1, but there was no progress made as yet.
Fawad said, hike in the essential commodities’ prices were mainly being reported from Karachi. Price of a sack of wheat flour was Rs 380 higher in the metropolitan than the actual prices in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Likewise, other edibles including sugar was being sold at the highest rate in Karachi, he added.
He urged the Sindh government to clear its position on inflation. “Why it did not release wheat earlier and now refrain from starting crushing of sugar…what sort of agenda you people are pursuing and what actually you want,” he questioned.
The challenges being faced by the people in Urban Sindh was result of the Sindh government’s bad governance, he said while pointing to the lawlessness in the province apparently due to absence of police.
He said people were being murdered in broad daylight and social media networking sites were flooded with such clips. It seemed that there was an environment of ‘jungle’ across the province, he added.
The minister urged the media to highlight the plight of the people of Sindh and put pressure on the provincial government to conduct independent inquiry into such matters.
About the increase in oil prices in the country, Fawad said the federal government brought taxes on the commodity to the lowest level despite the rise in petroleum prices in international market so that the masses could be facilitated in all possible way.
He said the government had collected only Rs 50 billion in lieu off petroleum levy. If the government had not cut taxes on the fuel and kept on charging like Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, the collection would have been over Rs 450 billion.
According to the United Nations Food Agency, he said the world food prices hit 10-year peak. The poverty rate in India was higher than Pakistan, while the petroleum prices in Pakistan was lower than India.
“We have to accept the realities and continue to move forward by keeping in view the situation prevailing world over,” he stressed.
Keeping in view the inflation, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan announced mega relief package to provide 30 per cent subsidy on wheat flour, pulses and ghee to those, whose monthly income is less than Rs 31,000.
About the PML-N senior leaders’ press conference, Fawad said, people don’t give any importance to their comments on economy.
“Those who are telling us solution are actually responsible for the current situation in Pakistan,” he added.
As regard to increase in exchange rate, he said it was due to the PML-N government’s clumsy economic policies that led to de-industrialization in the country.
Describing a time period from 2010 to 2018 as a worst decade, he said the Pakistan’s loan increased to Rs 27,000 billion from Rs 6,000 billion in ten years.
Both the PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) took massive loans amounting to Rs 23 trillion, he added.
“This year alone, we had to repay loans amounting to 10 billion dollars and in the next year, we have to return loans amounting to 12 billion dollars,” he said, holding the past governments responsible for the prevailing situation in the country.
Responding to the critics of the government, he said three years were not enough to reverse the damage caused by the bad economic policies of both the PML-N and PPP governments.
Fawad took jibe over PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for defending economic policies of his government in the media and said it was he who used to criticize the ‘worst’ policies of his own Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
He asked Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Miftah Ismail to show some courage to accept that they were also the critics of their own finance minister Ishaq Dar’s economic policies.
The minister said the public knew how the PML-N government in the past manipulated foreign exchange to limit dollar to Rs 100.
