Govt to provide targeted subsidy on five essential items

• The subsidy will be provided on five essential items
• The number of utility stores in Karachi will be expanded
• Mobile units have set up in Balochistan and remote areas

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday decided to provide subsidy on five essential items including wheat flour, sugar, ghee/edible oil, and pulses during the next fiscal year.

The subsidy, a major relief for the poor and backward segments, will be provided across the country through utility stores.

The prime minister was presiding over a high level meeting about utility stores. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Murtaza Mahmood and relevant senior officers were present in the meeting.

PM Shehbaz Sharif also approved expansion in the network of utility stores in Karachi. He expressed displeasure over that the low number of utility stores in the city and instructed to submit a comprehensive expansion plan within two weeks.

The prime minister said the government was ready to spend every cost to provide maximum relief to backward segments. He reaffirmed that providing relief to the poor on essential items was the foremost priority of the government.

The prime minister said that a comprehensive, consolidated, transparent and digital subsidy system should be formulated under which relief be provided especially to backward segment on priority basis.

He also called for the formulation of a strategy to reform the subsidy system in cooperation with the Ministers for Finance, Industries & Production, and Poverty Reduction.

The meeting was briefed about the provision of subsidy through utility stores, targeted subsidy for the backward segment, expansion in the number of utility stores across the country and progress on the program providing cheaper wheat flour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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It was told that besides 1,380 franchises, the Utility Stores Corporation was directly running 3,822 stores across the country. Over 300 new stores will be opened in Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and Punjab by July 30.

The meeting was informed that so far 113 million people have benefitted from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s relief package and got subsidies of Rs60 per kg on wheat flour, Rs21 on sugar, Rs250 on ghee, and Rs15 to Rs20 on pulses and rice.

The digital subsidy system was linked with the data of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Ministry of Poverty Reduction.

It was further told that the provision of cheaper wheat flour was being ensured in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through 942 utility stores whereas 1000 new sale points and 200 mobile stores were being added.

Regarding Balochistan, the meeting was told that provision of essential items at cheaper rates in the province was being ensured after the prime minister’s visit in Ramazan.

For that purpose, besides utility stores, mobile stores have also been established in the province to ensure the provision of subsidy in far-flung areas.