Sugar mafia is digging the grave of the economy: PEW

The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Saturday said the policy of promoting sugarcane crop on the cost of the cotton crop should be stopped as it can result in serious national security issues.

Sugar mafia is digging the grave of the economy for profits which should be noticed and corrective measures should be taken, he said.

The influential sugar mafia has forced masses to buy the world’s costliest sugar but it has not satisfied their appetite for profit which is damaging the troubled textile sector, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.

The textile sector providing over ten million jobs and earning almost 13 billion dollars of foreign exchange for the country has been allowed to deteriorate to profit the sugar sector which is a liability.

He said that the area under cultivation of cotton is reducing rapidly in favor of the sugarcane crop which will require 1.5 billion dollars of cotton imports soon that will hit Forex reserves, production and exports as the cost of doing business will increase for millers.

The area under cultivation for cotton has been reduced by 29 percent while that of sugarcane has increased by 45 percent which has also damaged some other crops, he said, adding that why a crop is promoted which is a burden on masses.

He said that the government has also imposed a 40 percent customs duty on import of sugar to promote local sugar barons otherwise masses can get the commodity on half the price of the local market.