Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said a new wave of price hike is hitting the masses as prices of edible oil, pulses, fertilizer, steel and other items are witnessing a sharp increase.
Edible oil is a necessity for everyone, and its increased price will only aggravate the problem of food security in Pakistan.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that increased price and the artificial shortage is making fertilizer more expensive, which will badly affect agricultural production and increase the costs of agricultural commodities.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that rising prices of pulses are also affecting the people while increasing steel prices are hurting industrial and construction activities.
He said that an effective mechanism should be set up to control ghee prices in the local market, and instead of relying on imports from the two countries, other means should be explored, and efforts should be made to increase its local production.
He called upon urgent steps to prevent the Food Security Index from falling further as many populations are already compromising on food due to its skyrocketing prices.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the profiteers are destroying the agricultural sector for their profit and that fertilizer hoarding is not difficult to control. It requires enormous warehouses, which are impossible to hide. Still, the government will have to be serious in this regard.
If the stockpiling of fertilizers were not controlled, food shortages would increase, and billions of dollars would have to be spent on imports, he warned.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the prices of pulses are also increasing, which should be controlled, while the cost of flour is growing in some areas, which should be dealt with immediately.
He said that the price of steel bars has recently been increased by Rs. 2,000 per tone, and now it is being sold at the rate of Rs.1,97,500, which is a record.
The same bars were priced at Rs1,10,000 per tone in November 2020, after which prices continued their upward journey.
Consistent and higher than expected inflation has broken the backs of the people and has also affected the GDP, but the authorities are relying on tall claims and hollow slogans instead of practical measures, he said.