Inflation Sky high in Pakistan, CHicken 480, Milk 210

Islamabad, Feb 15: The price of essential goods and services like milk and poultry has shot up in crisis-hit Pakistan, reported local media on Tuesday. The price of petrol is likely to be increased by Rs. 20 per liter from next week, reported The News.

 

 

 

As of Monday, loose milk is priced at PKR 210 per liter (INR 65.42) and live broiler chicken at PKR 480 per kilogram (INR 149.52), reported Pakistan-based Dawn. The price of gas, meanwhile, has been hiked up to 112.33% of the original price.

 

 

 

Officially, the price of milk has been capped at PKR 190, but wholesalers are selling it at an inflated rate, said Karachi Milk Retailers Association. Association media coordinator Waheed Gaddi told Dawn that “over 1,000 shopkeepers are selling milk at an inflated rate. These are actually shops of wholesalers/dairy farmers and not our members. Our 4,000 retail members have kept the price unchanged at Rs190 per liter.” The high price of poultry products is attributed to the shortage of soya bean meal, a key ingredient in poultry feed. An official of the Sindh Poultry Wholesalers Association told Dawn that soya bean meal bags are stuck at the port waiting for clearance, driving up the cost of a 50kg bag of poultry feed from PKR 600 to PKR 7,200 in the last month.

 

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Pakistan is reeling from a severe economic crisis, which has seen inflation spiraling in the country. Islamabad is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the release of a crucial USD 1.1 billion portion of a 2019 deal worth USD 6 billion. But the talks are yet to succeed, with the IMF recommending a series of steps including the imposition of new taxes.