Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a meeting held last week, grilled different ministries over delay in wheat import and fudged data of wheat shortage. Expressing concern over the mechanism to assess the commodity shortfall, cabinet members asked about the quantum drawn from carry-forward stocks between 2018-19 and 2019-20. Cabinet members noted that the main reasons were capacity constraints to the collection of reliable data as well as slow and risk-averse decision-making. Earlier, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) noted that the failure of government agencies to come up with authentic data had led to expensive wheat import deals. There was discrepancy in data and figures of government agencies related to the expected wheat shortfall and that restricted proper planning for commodity import.

Source: The Express Tribune November 03, 2020 03:22 UTC