Pakistan: Sugar, flour prices soar once again in Balochistan

Many districts of poverty-struck Balochistan are witnessing a rise in the prices of sugar and flour once against.

In various districts including the provincial capital Quetta, sugar is being sold from PKR 130 to PKR 200 per kilo while flour is being sold from PKR 2,600 to PKR 4,000 for 20 kg. The price of sugar is the highest in Dalbandin at PKR 200 per kg, while the highest price of flour is recorded at PKR 4000 per 20 kg in Sahabatpur, reported Roznama Intekhab.

Notably, Pakistan has been reeling under the flour crisis even at the time of Ramadan and the shortage continues. Earlier, in May the Flour Mills Association of Pakistan announced an indefinite shutdown of all mills, Pakistan-based ARY News reported.

Chairman of the Flour Mills Association Chaudhry Aamir in a press conference said that the flour mills will be forced to go on strike from 7 pm on Thursday because the food department has cheated them.

He said that when the mills had gone on strike due to the ban on the arrival of wheat from inside Sindh to Karachi, at that time the provincial Food Minister had promised five million bags of wheat. Those were enough for the mills of Karachi for two months. On the assurance, flour mills ended the strike, according to ARY News.

The statistics of the growth rate of the national economy of Pakistan during the current fiscal year released by the National Accounts Committee are shocking. The target of GDP growth rate for the current financial year was set at 5 per cent. However, the actual growth has been reported to be at 0.29 per cent, Pakistan vernacular media Dunya Daily reported.

The growth target of the industrial sector was 7.4 per cent. However, the growth target of the industrial sector remained at 2.94 per cent. The inflation target for the current fiscal year was set at 11.5 per cent. However, it has reached a 55-year high of 36.4 per cent, as per the Dunya Daily report. (ANI)