Prices of food items on the rise

Prices of an entire range of food items as well as other items are on the rise after the imposition of 17 percent General Sales Tax (GST), a survey carried out by Business Recorder revealed.
Traders at grain market Rawalpindi and vegetable/fruit market Islamabad told this scribe that after the promulgation of the presidential ordinance prices of a number of food items along with other essential items including cloths, crockery, readymade garments, stationary, fans, and home-appliances have gone up by 10 to 15 percent.
Raja Waseem Ahmed, a shopkeeper, said that sugar price increased from Rs 3,120 per 50 kg bag to Rs 3,250 per 50 kg bag. He added that the manufactures of spices like Shan Masalajat and National have across the board increased the prices of their different products by Rs 5. The producers of powder turmeric and chillies have also increased prices by Rs 20 per kg and Rs 25 per kg. The survey noted that Lipton Tea Company has reduced the weight of the tea pack from 200 gram to 190 gram and also increased the price by Rs 6 per 190 gram tea packet.
He said that Nestle producers of Milk-Pack have informed the shopkeepers that at the end of March the company would increase the prices of different milk packets by Rs 2-5 per packet. Traders informed this correspondent that cigarette makers have also increased the prices of different brands by Rs 2-5.
Sugar before the presidential ordinance was available at Rs 70 per kg but after the presidential ordinance it is now being sold at three different prices Rs 75, Rs 77 and Rs 80 per kg in different areas of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Gul Mir Khan, a shopkeeper, giving the reason behind three different prices said that the price of the commodity has increased by Rs 2-3 per kg, but mostly shopkeepers were exploiting the situation. He said that sugar price is around Rs 72 per kg after recent tax increase, but in many parts of the country it is being sold at Rs 75-80 per kg.
Rafi Awan a garment trader said that prices of an entire range of cloths would increase by almost 10 percent as the government recently increased the prices of petroleum products and electricity. Moreover, imposition of tax on agricultural inputs would also jack the price of cloth, as the cost of farm produce would rise, Rafi said.
He stressed the need for developing a food security mechanism and urged the government to impose or tighten price control system and cut food import duties to provide relief to people. "Soaring food inflation is making the lives of millions of working class and poor miserable," he said and urged the government to adopt appropriate food security policies and provide relief to poor.
Adil Anees, a trader, said that high food prices would reverse all the gains achieved in reducing poverty, as food expenditures comprise a major share of the total expenditure of a poor person. Benish Khan, a housewife with a family of four said that three years ago her household's expenditure was nearly Rs 5000 and one could manage with a monthly income of Rs 10,000, but at present Rs 20,000 is not enough to meet her family's needs.