August 10, 2021: Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has called for building strategic reserves of basic commodities namely wheat, sugar, edible oil, ghee, vegetables and pulses to prevent hoarding and undue profiteering.
Chairing a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee in Islamabad on Monday, he said the government will flood the markets with necessary commodities to bridge the supply and demand gap was needed to check the price hike. He said Pakistan has become the net importer of key food items such as wheat, sugar and pulses. He said the current upsurge in international food prices amid the coronavirus pandemic makes it imperative to build strategic reserves of Essential Commodities to bring stability in prices of items of daily use.
The Government absorbed the pressure by giving subsidies and importing staple food items in order to provide maximum relief to the consumers.
The meeting was told that there is an enormous increase in the price of crude oil by 73.8 percent on the international level whereas the Government of Pakistan reduced the levy on petrol and petroleum-based products. It was said that the Coronavirus pandemic has played havoc with global food prices due to supply chain disruptions.
