No Ghee, cooking oil in Pakistan amid supply woes as inflation surges to 40%

Pakistan Inflation: The weekly inflation rate in Pakistan rose by 1.09 percent, Geo TV reported quoting figures issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Ghee and cooking oil in Pakistan are going to be short in supply, a report said adding that if the government does not take corrective measures most goods will be costlier in the country ahead of the holy month of Ramadan. The Dawn reported that producers in Pakistan are fast running out of palm oil, soybean oil and sunflower despite the raw materials being listed as essential items.

Pakistan Inflation: Shopkeepers fix the price tags of rice at a market in Karachi.(AFP)

Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) secretary general Umer Islam Khan said, as per the report that palm oil rate has already gone up to 14,000 per maund from 13,000 which means that there will be a jump in the prices of ghee and cooking oil as well.

Pakistan also increased the prices of wheat flour, sugar and ghee by 25 to 62 per cent for sale through the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) in order to reduce the impact of untargeted subsidies, The Dawn reported.

“The beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) would be exempt from the price increase, while the limit for subsidised purchases from the USC has also been curtailed,” the report said.

The weekly inflation rate in Pakistan also rose by 1.09 percent, Geo TV reported quoting figures issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The annual inflation increased by 30.60% and an increase in prices was seen for chicken (16.09%), broken basmati rice (5.16%), wheat flour (4.87%), rice irri-6/9 (3.45 %), bananas (2.97%), onions (2.65%), bread (1.24%), powdered salt (1.07%), and pulse moong (1.02%).

With this. food inflation surged by 32.7% in cities and 37.9% in villages/towns last month, respectively in Pakistan.