STAFF REPORT IBD: The United Nations has advised Pakistan to provide agricultural subsidies and introduce modern technologies to increase per acre yield, arrest rising food prices and alleviate hunger.
“Pakistan faces increasing risk from rising food prices that directly affect the most vulnerable sections of the population,” says a UN report titled Economic and Social Survey for Asia and Pacific (Escap) – launched by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in 32 countries across the region.
The report suggests that the best way to bring food prices under control in the long term is to increase agricultural productivity.
“The country should continue supporting rural development; a green revolution based on modern technology and new seed varieties; subsidised supplies of inputs such as fertilisers; and provision of credit to farmers,” it says.
The report also lists Pakistan as one of the two South Asian countries where growth will accelerate in the current financial year; although this growth will not create more jobs.
The Escap report also says, “A major share of the fiscal deficit is being financed by domestic sources; resulting in rapid rise in domestic public debt; which in turn is fuelling concerns about macroeconomic stability and monetary management.”