The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has confirmed that the federal government’s Rs. 300 billion wheat import in FY2023-24 was based on manipulated data and deliberate policy delays.
According to the AGP’s report, the decision to import wheat coincided with the highest domestic wheat production in Pakistan’s history. Despite sufficient stocks, the national demand estimate was deliberately inflated to justify the import. The federal government initially approved 2.4 million metric tons but allowed imports to exceed 3.5 million metric tons.
The report directly implicates the federal and provincial governments in facilitating an artificial wheat crisis, which enabled importers and hoarders to benefit at the expense of the farming community.
Punjab and Sindh, the country’s largest wheat-producing provinces, released limited quantities of wheat to flour mills in mid-2023. This created an artificial market shortage, driving up flour prices despite ample national reserves.
The Ministry of Food Security and the Ministry of Commerce were found to have deliberately delayed the wheat import process to favour private traders. As a result, public sector procurement fell short by 25 percent in FY24, and by 40 percent in FY25. Notably, Punjab made no wheat purchases in FY25.
The government also failed to timely announce the minimum support price during the review period.
The AGP highlighted that the imported wheat arrived just before the domestic harvest and was stored by private importers rather than by the state, which had only 500,000 metric tons of storage capacity. Official claims regarding strategic reserves were deemed false and misleading.
The report noted that Afghanistan’s wheat demand was included in Pakistan’s domestic consumption estimates without any documentation, inflating the national requirement and further justifying the unnecessary import.
What is the point of such reports when no one set accountable.