Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum President Mian Zahid Hussain said the country is on the verge of a crisis in the wheat crisis.
He said wheat and flour prices had been increasingly rising, calling for immediate action from federal or provincial governments, or the crisis will make the country pay a heavy political expense.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that because of the coronavirus and lockout, the people had already been forced to the wall and were not prepared to face yet another crisis.
He said the wheat procurement drive so far has been unsatisfactory while reports of corruption, incompetence and mismanagement have been rife.
He noticed that although the private sector was prevented from buying wheat, not even half of the quantity of wheat could be bought, which amounted to preparing a field for another crisis.
He said the hoarders stacked up wheat stocks without fear that could only be offset by importing five million tons of wheat.
Mian Zahid Hussain highlighted that the private sector had warned the government repeatedly about the crisis last year, but its warnings were ignored, which helped the “mafia take billions out of the hands of the poor.” “Only import can force the hoarders into bringing their wheat into the market to stabilize prices as the price of wheat has increased by Rs7 per kg in Karachi in the last few days, and it is set to rise further,” he added.
