The government will import two lakh tonnes of rice and four lakh tonnes of wheat within the next 15 days.
On Wednesday, the interim government’s finance adviser. This policy approval was given in the meeting of the Economic Affairs Advisory Council under the chairmanship of Saleh Uddin Ahmed.
Generally, as per the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2006 and Public Procurement Rules (PPR) 2008, suppliers are given 42 days to deliver goods.
But after the approval of ACEA, the supply period has been reduced to 15 days to facilitate quick import to avoid shortage of food.
Regarding the proposed import, the finance adviser told reporters that the government has taken the initiative to import rice and wheat because it does not want to see a shortage in food supply.
“They are not needed immediately, but the government wants to keep stock ready to supply us,” he said.
According to the proposal of the Food Ministry, two lakh tonnes of wheat will be imported in the current fiscal year 2024-25 and 4 lakh tonnes of wheat will be imported under the G2G (Government to Government) system.
In the financial year 2024-25, the government has set a target of procurement of 3 lakh 50 thousand tonnes of rice from international sources and 19 lakh 23 thousand tonnes of rice from domestic sources.
Besides, in the financial year 2024-25, the target of procurement of 7 lakh tonnes of wheat from the international market and 10 thousand tonnes from the domestic market has been set.