ISLAMABAD: Amid the alleged waste of public funds on managing imported wheat stocks since 2021-22, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to offload 800,000 tonnes of wheat — less than half of the total stock — and approved more than Rs66 billion in supplementary grants.
The meeting of the ECC, presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, was informed that around 1.8 million tonnes of wheat stocks were still lying with the Pakistan Agricultural Services and Storage Corporation (Passco), which is currently under winding up. Around 550,000 tonnes of these stocks belonged to imports made from Ukraine in 2021-22, most of which are now reportedly beyond the category of human consumption.
During the meeting, the ECC decided to offload 800,000 tonnes at an estimated cost of about Rs70bn, which would still leave about one million tonnes in storage, largely in bad shape.
The ECC “approved the disposal of 500,000 metric tonnes of Passco wheat stock through competitive bidding, with the objective of managing surplus stocks, reducing carrying and storage costs, and ensuring price stability in the domestic wheat market while safeguarding food security considerations,” an official statement said.
Committee also approves Rs66bn in supplementary grants
Passco employees
This is expected to generate more than Rs45bn, part of which would be used to pay severance and voluntary separation packages to around 200 Passco employees. The cost of the package has been estimated at Rs4bn, based on a pattern similar to that offered to Utility Stores Corporation employees, or about Rs2.8bn as determined by market-based actuarial practices. However, a decision on the severance package could not be taken.
In a related decision, the ECC also approved the provision of 300,000 tonnes of Passco wheat to the Food and Consumer Protection Department of the Punjab government, aimed at maintaining adequate wheat supplies for flour mills, stabilising prices and ensuring uninterrupted availability of wheat flour to consumers.
Supplementary grants
The ECC also approved funds required for clearing outstanding liabilities of utility companies, mostly power distribution companies, against the Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD), which had collected electricity bills but could not transfer the amounts to utilities due to financial constraints. The ECC authorised the release of a Rs10.98bn supplementary grant to address long-pending payables accumulated over several years.
In the health sector, the ECC approved a Rs29.663bn supplementary grant for the Federal Directorate of Immunisation under the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to ensure uninterrupted procurement of vaccines and syringes under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation.
The ECC also approved the sharing of subsidy on imported urea on a 50:50 basis between the federal and provincial governments through a supplementary grant of Rs23.42bn sought by the Ministry of Commerce.
Of this amount, Rs15bn will be released by the Finance Division, while the remaining amount will be arranged subject to fiscal space.
