Tag: flour

  • Pakistan breaks 70-year inflation record in three years: report

    Pakistan breaks 70-year inflation record in three years: report

    Inflation in Pakistan has broken a 70-year record in the last three years, with food prices doubling, while the prices of ghee, oil, sugar, flour, and poultry have reached historic levels, reports The News.

    According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) report, electricity rates have increased by 57 per cent from Rs 4.06 per unit to at least Rs 6.38 per unit, from October 2018 to October 2021.

    “By the first quarter of October, the price of an 11.67 kg cylinder of LPG had gone up by 51 per cent from Rs1,536 to Rs 2,322. Similarly, the price of petrol had gone up by 49 per cent in three years from Rs 93.80 per litre to Rs138.73 per litre,” says the report.

    “The price of edible ghee increased by 108 per cent to Rs 356 per kg.”

    “Sugar has increased by 83 per cent in three years and the price of sugar sold at Rs 54 per kg exceeded Rs100,” according to the report.

    “The price of a 20 kg bag of flour has gone up by 52 per cent to Rs1,196 in three years.”

    “The price of chicken remained at Rs 252 per kg from October 2018 to October 2021, however, chicken meat is being sold at Rs 400 per kg in the markets.”

    “The cost of chicken eggs has also increased by 47 per cent to Rs170 per dozen.”

  • Govt confirms tax on phone calls longer than five minutes

    Govt confirms tax on phone calls longer than five minutes

    The federal government has imposed a tax of 75 paisas on phone calls that exceed the duration of five minutes.

    This was announced by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin while concluding the budget discussion in the National Assembly on Friday.

    Tarin said talking over the cellphone for more than five minutes will be taxed at 75 paisas, but there will be no tax on an SMS.

    Tarin added that the government will take action against tax defaulters with the help of third party. “Arrest will be made after legal formalities.”

    As per reports, the government has decided to decrease the taxes on 1000cc vehicles while tax imposed on milk and other items has also been fixed at 10 per cent, which was earlier proposed at 17pc.

    The finance minister clarified that the federal government has not proposed any tax on flour or other items.

    Property tax has been reduced to 20 per cent from the earlier proposal of 35 per cent.

    Mentioning the government’s initiatives in the housing sector, Shaukat Tarin said now every citizen can avail bank loan to purchase or construct a house. Rs3 billion have been fixed for the payment of subsidies being offered by the government on housing loans, he added.

    For Ehsaas Programme, the finance minister said Rs260 billion have been proposed for the financial grants in the upcoming financial year 2021-22.

  • INTERACTIVE: What’s this wheat crisis?

    INTERACTIVE: What’s this wheat crisis?

    As the price of wheat (atta and flour) reaches Rs75 per kilogram (kg) — the highest price recorded in Pakistan’s history — amid shortage, we have to ask: what is this crisis and what led to it?

    The crisis is huge because it hits a daily essential. Roti, bread, naans and puris, you name it, everything with any bit of flour or wheat in it is going to be affected, and prices are rising.

    What happened? A country that is rich in wheat production, exports millions of tonnes of wheat itself is now in a massive wheat shortage?

    It all started from projection vs. reality.

    Projection this year did not meet reality and was less than the previous three years

    It all started from the government projecting that the wheat production of 2018-2019 would be 25.2 million tonnes, which would be sufficient for the year. Pakistan also exports wheat and because the projected wheat crop was high, the country exported, 640,000 tonnes. Pakistan was supposed to export between 200,000 to 400,000 tonnes.

    The crisis began when Pakistan did not meet its projected figure. It produced 24.7 million tonnes due to bad management, poor coordination and the weather.

    So now all provinces are racing to save their stock. Punjab has imposed a ban on moving wheat to other provinces and reportedly, people who want to profit from the shortage, are hoarding the wheat to sell at a later stage when prices increase.

    The federal government is blaming the provinces for the shortage, primarily the Sindh government (Sindh is also the only province which is not under PTI rule) saying that the Sindh government bought a lot of wheat at the wrong time. The Sindh government is saying that Imran Khan is responsible because he allowed the extra wheat to be exported.

    Prices of 10KG of atta in four cities

    The next few months are going to be crucial for wheat. The price of wheat used to be around Rs45-50 per kg and is now Rs75. The government is now having to import wheat from other countries to make up for the shortage, and Twitter is not happy about it.

    The difficult news is that the wheat that we exported for around Rs24/kg, is now going to be imported for more than double the price.