PEW says millers are not selling sugar to Utility Store Corporation in order to cause price hike; says government ignoring other sectors like rice mills which are struggling to stay afloat
The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) has opposed the move of the government to deregulate prices of sugar, terming it against the interests of masses as it will trigger a price hike.
The decision to deregulate prices, allowing export of half million tonnes of sugar and an export subsidy of Rs 13 per kg should be reconsidered as it will put additional burden of Rs 7 billion on the public exchequer, PEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal said in a statement.
Talking to FPCCI VP Fahmida Kausar Jamali, QCCI’s Tabassum Anwar, FPCCI Coordination Chairman Malik Sohail and Malakand investor Iftikhar Khan, he said that sugar export subsidy for the last year was Rs 10 and there is no justification for the hike. “Allowing export of half a million tonnes can result in shortage in the local market,” he said, and added, “Therefore only 125,000 tonnes of sugar should be exported which will also save billions of rupees in subsidy.”
He said that millers are not selling sugar to Utility Store Corporation so that its price sky rockets, resulting in windfall for them which must be noticed. Dr Murtaza Mughal said that government had given priority to the interests of the mill owners instead of interests of the masses or even other sectors.
One such sector is that of rice where around 5,000 mills are struggling to remain afloat due to surplus stock, dwindling exports and bank loans. Government should do something about the sector that used to earn $2.2 billion dollars annually, he said.
