Shortage of Wheat and Sugar in Ramadan Imminent
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The Cost of Pakistan s Dam Obsession – The Diplomat
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Whatever it takes
February 23, 2021
Recent agriculture data is concerning enough to send chills up one s spine. The food import bill is up a massive 52 percent for July 2020 to January 2021, compared to the same period last year. It presents a formidable amount of $4.64 billion in just seven months.
Spending on import of cotton has increased by a whopping 266 percent to $0.7 billion in the same period. On the other hand, export earnings of basmati rice have fallen by more than 31 percent to just $0.3 billion.
On the domestic front, the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) has risen in the range of 0.32 percent to 0.81 percent, week on week, for the last five weeks in a row to February 18, 2021. On a yearly basis, the SPI has increased by 9.92 percent. The SPI is a reasonably good measure of the change in the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by a household.
Is Pakistan headed for a hunger pandemic?
By
Monday Feb 22, 2021
Around 40 to 62 million people (20-30% of Pakistan s population) are experiencing some form of food insecurity in the country, according to a recent UN study. Photo: AFP
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, food security had posed a huge threat to the national security of Pakistan due to socio-economic conditions, natural disasters, terrorism and sectarian violence, among others factors.
But the threat has become even more pronounced since the pandemic. It now has the potential to further aggravate poverty in the country.
The primary challenge facing the government at the moment is to curb the spread of COVID-19 and minimise its socio-economic impacts.