Food inflation continues to haunt Pakistanis

KARACHI: The prices of food commodities continue to rise, as Pakistan records its worst food inflation in recent times.

Rupee depreciation, rising trade deficit and the hike in petroleum products prices make it difficult to make ends meet for the common man.

The essential food items get dearer, as there is no sign of relief in the fulfillment of basic needs of the common man, with the prices of 27 food items witnessing an increase in November, a data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed.

The data for the week ended November 18, 2021, indicated that the price of 1kg chicken farm broiler witnessed an increase of 15 per cent to reach Rs277, compared with the price of Rs235 during the same period last year, cooking oil 5 litres rose to Rs1,977 from Rs1,265, registering an increase of 56 per cent, vegetable ghee 2.5kg tin went up 53 per cent to reach Rs970, compared with Rs634 in the same period last year.

The wheat flour bag of 20kg rose 22 per cent to reach Rs1,200 during the week ended November 18, 2021, compared with Rs982 in the same period of the last year, plain bread recorded an increase of 16 per cent to reach Rs65, compared with the price of Rs56 during the corresponding period of the last year, basmati rice 1kg rose 10 per cent to Rs99 from Rs90, beef with bone/kg reached Rs571.17 from Rs470 last year and 1kg mutton prices went up to Rs1,150, compared with Rs983 in the same period of the last year, recording an increase of 16 per cent.

Similarly, the prices of a few food items showed decline during the period under review, including tomatoes, whose price went down 6.34 per cent to Rs140/kg, compared with the price of Rs149 in the corresponding week of the last year, 1kg sugar reached Rs96, compared with Rs100, recording a decline of 4.25 per cent, potatoes down 26 per cent to Rs58 from Rs80 a year-on-year basis and onions declined 38 per cent to reach Rs45/kg.

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