Essential food items, including ghee, sugar and wheat flour, have become costlier in Pakistan, as the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet approved the hike of the items at the Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan, citing an “increasing gap between the subsidised prices and the prevailing market prices”.
Following the revision, the price of ghee at these outlets will now spike by 53 per cent and one kilogram of it will cost PKR (Pakistani Rupee) 260, instead of PKR 170. A bag of 20 kg wheat flour will cost PKR 950 from its existing rate of PKR 800, which is a 19 per cent hike. Sugar’s rate has also been revised from PKR 68 to PKR 85 per kg, registering an increase of 25 per cent.
The hike in the essential food items came a day after the Imran Khan government okayed the increase of petrol and high-speed diesel price. The new price for petrol will be PKR 118.09 per litre, while one litre diesel in the country now costs PKR 116.5. On petrol price, information and broadcasting ministry Fawad Chaudhry said the government has no other choice as fuel has become dearer in the international market. However, Pakistan has kept it the lowest in the region, the minister tweeted, as reported by Dawn.
In 2020, poverty has increased from 4.4 per cent to 5.4 per cent in Pakistan, according to an estimate of the World Bank. According to the estimation, the poverty ratio in Pakistan is projected to remain at 39.2 per cent in 2021-2022, news agency ANI reported quoting The News International.
(With agency inputs)
