1m tons of wheat disappear every year: ministry

ISLAMABAD: High-ups of the ministry of food and agriculture have said one million tons of wheat disappear every year in the country. The revelation came at a time of growing concern over the food security amid indications that 77 million people of the country are malnourished owing to rising poverty. The ministry officials made this startling disclosure to participants of the second day of a conference organised by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), here on Wednesday. The officials also said they did not know how much wheat was exported by the previous Shaukat Aziz regime during the last fiscal year. On the occasion, the Chairman of the Panel of Economists and former adviser to the PM on finance, Dr Hafez A Pasha, said 77 million people are facing the food insecurity according to the latest estimates given by the World Food Programme. The support price of wheat was increased up to Rs950 per 40kg, he said and asked how the government would protect consumers who had already faced a 42 per cent hike in prices of flour in the last one year. The officials claimed that if the private sector imported wheat it would cost Rs1,077 per 40 kg while imports by the public sector would cost Rs1,322. Former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Ishrat Hussain, said Pakistan has to pursue active monetary and fiscal policies to deal with the global financial crisis which is affecting the economy. The Panelists were of the opinion that financial innovation and absence of regulatory framework were the main contributors to the crisis. Humza Ali Malik pointed out that everyone is crying that the financial crisis occurred due to absence of regulations and market failure but nobody talk about the issue of macroeconomic imbalances at the global level. Renowned economist, Sakib Sherani, highlighted the gravity of the situation by indicating that total liabilities in the banking system had increased to 15 times of gross domestic product. 揕iquidity is beyond the reach of formal regulation. Now capital loss of banks has reached $2 trillion. There is recapitalisation of global banking system. Despite that credit is not flowing as the policy-makers were hoping. 揟he main reasons include development of a shadow banking system. Now it抯 the question of revival of demand. Monetary policy is putting strains until there is revival of demand.?Dr Abdual Qayyum indicated that the global financial slowdown is not a short-run phenomenon but its impact will be felt for long time. Long-run policy measures are required to tackle the crisis. Moreover better coordination between fiscal and monetary policies are needed. Dr Sadiq Ahmed highlighted the transmission mechanisms through which less developed countries are getting affected. These include the capital flows, exports, and remittances.The session on Trade and Industry was chaired by Shahab Khawaja, Secretary, Industry and Special Initiatives. Four papers were presented in the session. The first paper was presented by Abdur Rehman. It estimated the trend in total factor productivity growth for eleven major manufacturing companies. The main findings of the paper showed that most of the industries gained in terms of technical efficiency. The paper presented by Naseem Akhtar looked at the competitiveness of footwear industry in the world market and its potential for growth. The study suggests that in the face of increasing cost of doing business in Pakistan, there is a need to strengthen the competitiveness of the footwear industry in Pakistan.