Day: June 2, 2023

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal says the government has allocated 1100 billion rupees for the development projects in the next fiscal year.

Chairing the Annual Plan Coordination Committee meeting in Islamabad today, he said 950 billion rupees of that budget has be spent under the under Public Sector Development Programme, while 150 billion rupees have been earmarked for Public-Private Partnership.

Later addressing a news conference in the federal capital, Ahsan Iqbal said it was the previous government of PML-N that had earmarked a budget of 1000 billion rupees for the development project, while this amount was slashed to half by the PTI government, which shows that development has never been their priority.

The Planning Minister said the PTI government unwisely allowed import of luxury items worth 84 billion dollars, which resulted in the enhanced traded deficit of 50 billion dollars.

He said that was the turning point that brought Pakistan to the macro economic crisis.

He said the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is striving hard to maintain and enhance country’s foreign exchange reserves.

The Planning Minister further said now the country is heading toward stabilization as a result of the prudence economic policies of the government, restoring confidence of the foreign investors as well.

Talking about targets for the next fiscal year, the Planning Minister said that a GDP growth will likely to remain 3.5 percent, agriculture 3.5 percent, manufacturing 4.3 percent and Service sector3.6 percent. He said inflation is expected to come down from 29.2 percent to 21 percent, while the ratio of national saving is expected to rise from 12.5 percent to 13.4 percent.

Commenting on the exports, Ahsan Iqbal said exports expectation is 28 billion dollars, which may go up to 30 billion dollars next year.

Highlighting framework of the development budget, the Minister said it consists of five Es, including exports, e-Pakistan, energy, environment and equity. He said the government is working hard to achieve desired results in these domains.

Source: Radio Pakistan

It’s that time of the year again when nationwide emotions of sacrifice meet the festivity of Eid.

According to 2022 data from Pakistan Tanners Association, Eid ul Adha generated an estimated economic activity of Rs. 329 billion in the country from sacrifice alone which crosses Rs. 500 billion if related economic activities are included.

An estimated 8.1 million animals were sacrificed last year which is ‘expected to cross 10 million despite the current inflationary pressure’, said Yawar Chawla, Spokesperson of Cattle Mandi, Asia’s biggest cattle market established every year in Karachi to provide for the city’s 200 million people.

“Eid ul Adha is one of its kind festival where you can find animals in your desired range despite the skyrocketing inflation”, said Chawla. He pointed out that though animal prices are 20-25 percent higher than in 2022, they are still lower than year-on-year inflation.

One more factor that might play into the increased sacrificial activity is the 68 percent increase in Hajj prices with quota remaining underutilized for the first time in history which means more money flowing into animal sacrifice.

Pakistan’s livestock sector is worth Rs 5.4 trillion and contributes 14 percent of the GDP and more than 61 percent to the agriculture GDP of Pakistan. The government is claiming 3.78 percent sector growth in the current fiscal year, a rise from the revised figure of 2.25 percent last year. A pretty questionable estimate when you realized that nearly 0.8 million livestock perished in the devastating floods and lumpy skin disease (LSD) also damaged the growth of the sector, but that’s a discussion for another time.The primary factors contributing to the rise in animal prices are transportation and feed costs. Diesel prices have increased nearly 45 percent year-on-year and availability of animal fodder is always challenging during this time of the year even in normal times. Moreover, the size, breed, health, and above all, the physical appearance of animals also influence their prices.

Annual cattle markets bring all livestock stakeholders together, it’s not just common for citizens to come to buy animals for sacrifice but domestic and international clients also visit to buy animals for fattening purposes. It connects cattle owners from remote areas with buyers from across the country in an open competition and that income stream goes a long way in rural development.

There are a lot of industries that thrive alongside this singular economic activity. From the feed industry to vaccinations and pharmaceuticals, and from banking institutions to the transportation sector, everyone adds some value and makes something out of it.

Karachi: Asia’s Biggest Cattle Market

Karachi is a unique city where the demand for sacrificial animals is around 2.6 million but unlike Punjab and interior Sindh, the culture of rearing animals for Eid ul Adha is non-existent within a 100 km radius of the metropolitan city which makes it challenging to adequately serve the cattle demand during Eid ul Adha.

“We are establishing this market for the last 22 years with the conjunction of cantonments, local bodies, Rangers, and other law enforcement agencies,” said Chawla. He revealed that Karachi Cattle Mandi has been completely digitized for the first time and RFID cards are issued at entry through one window to process owners after complete medical checkups.

VIP blocks for big cattle traders cost Rs. 150,000 per 30×120 ft block, but the small farmers are provided space and water for free against a one-time entry fee of Rs. 4000/- for big animals and Rs. 2000/- for small animals.

Chawla explained that Karachi Cattle Mandi has been shifted to the Northern bypass as the previous location had increased crime ratio, traffic, and drainage issues while the current place has better roads and facilities for drainage, a food court, parking facility, and security arrangements.

Challenges Persist:

Livestock is well entrenched within the economy of rural households. It’s what they invest their wealth in, and it also serves as a medium of exchanging this wealth. But as a business, its value is dinged up with inefficiencies and shortfalls and it doesn’t look like a ‘value chain’ at all to begin with. For starters, we don’t exactly know what we have.

The government data states that Pakistan had 82.5 million goats, 53.4 million cattle, 43.7 million buffaloes, 31.9 million sheep, and 1.1 million camels, but these are the estimates based on the livestock census that happened in 2006. Moreover, there is no one identifying animals with higher genetic makeup let alone preserving them.

Domestic livestock farms and processing units are not at par with international standards. When China opened meat imports from Pakistan recently, only four companies were approved. People are not willing to upgrade their businesses as they lack tools, affordability, and motivation.

Eid ul Azda is at the pivot of hide collection for the leather industry which brings nearly a billion dollars in exports every year. However, 10-15 percent of hides are wasted every year due to a lack of efficient means of collecting and preserving them.

At the end of 2019, a Comsats graduate came up with an idea to streamline the buying and selling of cattle animals by creating an online marketplace called the Qurbani App. While the app had a huge potential given the messed up value chain and export gap, it was tilted towards ‘reforming’ the animal buying experience at Eid ul Adha which was too ambitious.

For starters, people want to have that experience as it’s a big part of the festival for families. Secondly, people are also not sure about the authenticity and reliability of these platforms.

“We realized that things were getting more seasonal, so we changed the model to make it throughout the year” commended Sibghat Ullah Baig, founder of Qurbani App. He also explained that they are now providing customers with the complete digital journey of the animal they order and are also connecting buyers from as far as the UK and the US. He also highlighted that they are planning to launch an online veterinary marketplace in the future to guide and connect doctors with farm owners.

Baig explained that the primary challenge being faced by these platforms is not penetration. People want to connect with nationwide spread farms, markets, and retailers, but they are still doing their deals in cash to avoid taxes. The livestock businesses are more clustered in Southern Punjab, Cholistan, and Thar where tech literacy and financial facilities are not adequate. On top of that, there is no reliable escrow in Pakistan even in 2023.

“E-commerce marketplaces have evolved, but there is still so much to be done to connect remote animal owners with international buyers of animal commodities like meat,” added Chawla.

Eid ul Adha is a unique opportunity to reflect on all of these challenges and address them proactively. The issues of digital marketplaces, electronic payments, remote veterinary consultations, price transparency, RFID tags, and traceability of animals must be addressed through integrated tech-based solutions. It can go a long way in the redistribution of wealth in marginalized areas of the country as that’s from where the majority of livestock comes.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based inflation for the week ended June 1, 2023, increased by 0.03 percent due to an increase in the prices of food items including onions (7.31 percent), potatoes (2.89 percent), chicken (2.87 percent), tea prepared (1.56 percent), tomatoes (1.11 percent), salt powdered (1.08 percent) and non-food item energy saver (2.16 percent), says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The year-on-year trend depicts an increase of 42.67 percent mainly due to an increase in the prices of cigarettes (138.50 percent), tea lipton (114.93 percent), gas charges for q1 (108.38 percent), wheat flour (105.56 percent), bananas (88.96 percent), potatoes (86.86 percent), rice irri-6/9 (80.97 percent), rice basmati broken (80.15 percent), pulse moong (60.40 percent), bread (59.66 percent), eggs (55.29 percent), pulse mash (53.70 percent), washing soap (48.61 percent), petrol (45.55 percent) and diesel (45.18 percent), while a decrease is observed in the prices of tomatoes (42.14 percent) and onions (29.00 percent).

The SPI for the week under review was recorded at 254.13 points against 254.05 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest PBS data released on Friday.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 19 (37.25 percent) items increased, 14 (27.45 percent) items decreased and 18 (35.30 percent) items remained stable.

The SPI for the consumption group up to Rs. 17,732 and Rs. 17,732-22,888 consumption group decreased by 0.08 percent and 0.10 percent while it increased for Rs. 22,889-29,517, Rs. 29,518-44,175 and above Rs. 44,175 increased by 0.08 percent, 0.12 percent and 0.05 percent respectively.

The items, which recorded an increase in their average prices during the week over the previous include onions (7.31 percent), potatoes (2.89 percent), chicken (2.87 percent), energy saver Philips (2.16 percent), tea prepared (1.56 percent), tomatoes (1.11 percent), salt powdered (1.08 percent), beef with bone (1 percent), rice irri-6/9 (1 percent), cooked beef (0.60 percent), mutton (0.54 percent), milk fresh (0.52 percent), bread plain (0.51 percent), gur (0.41 percent), curd (0.33 percent), pulse mash (0.24 percent), pulse masoor (0.19 percent), powdered milk nido (0.17 percent) and sugar (0.13 percent).

The commodities, which recorded a decrease in their average include LPG (4.46 percent), wheat flour bag 20 kg (4.06 percent), bananas (4.04 percent), petrol super (2.96 percent), eggs (2.57 percent), hi-speed diesel (1.94 percent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib or other superior quality 1 kg pouch each (1.87 percent), mustard oil (1.57 percent), cooking oil dalda or other similar brands (sn), 5 liter tin each (1.35 percent), pulse moong (1.27 percent), vegetable ghee Dalda/Habib 2.5 kg tin each (1.06 percent), pulse gram (0.59 percent), garlic (-0.37 percent) and rice basmati broken (0.17 percent).

Source: Pro Pakistani