The rising price hike has made it difficult for the bulk of Pakistan is to afford Dal and Roti for a mean household size of their families within the wake of decreased real wages during the outgoing financial year .
This correspondent took a sample of average household size of six and a half persons of a family living within the country. the worth escalation of essential food items at the retail stage showed that 20 kg wheat-flour price increased from Rs850 to Rs1,125 per bag, Dalda ghee/cooking of 5 kg price went up from Rs1,250 to Rs1,730 per 5 kg, Pulse Mash increased from Rs175 per kg to Rs280 per kg, sugar from Rs65 per kg to Rs100 per kg, rice from Rs140 kg to Rs180 per kg, tea from Rs800 per kg to Rs980 per kg, red chilly Rs300 to Rs350 to Rs 500 per kg, and Pulse Masoor from Rs140 to Rs170 per kg. The estimates of expenses done on the average size of over six people on per family basis showed that every family required a minimum of Rs15,000 for affording Dal and Roti because it required a minimum of two bags of wheat-flour, 10 kg ghee/cooking, 5 kg sugar, 3 to 4 kg pulses, 3 kg rice, one kg tea, one kg red chilly, and meeting other pre-requisites for creating two-time handi like vegetables including tomato, onion, green coriander, garlic, ginger, turmeric and lots of other items.
Then the typical family size utility bills, including electricity and gas, might be assumed within the range of Rs5,000 to Rs6,000 on monthly basis. The rent of a mean two-bedroom size house in urban/semi-urban areas ranges between Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 on monthly basis. If of these expenditures are taken under consideration , then the family earning a wage of Rs20,000 cannot afford Dal/Roti on day to day .
This scribe obtained the official data and talked to economists to determine how people face fleecing price hike when the important wages virtually declined in Pakistan.
Amid the inflation of essential food items that have gone up sky high, the important wages of the workforce in Pakistan have declined within the range of 9 percent during the outgoing financial year 2020-21, making the lives of folk tougher.
According to official data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the costs of chicken increased by 60 percent, eggs 49.7 percent, wheat 27 percent, wheat-flour 26.02 percent, vegetable ghee 25.35 percent, sugar 21.67 percent, rice 11.93 percent, meat 16.3 percent and pulses by almost 30 percent during the primary 11 months of the present fiscal year compared to an equivalent period of the last financial year. the costs of potatoes went up by 15 percent, onions 31 percent, tomato 5 percent and fresh vegetables by 12.5 percent during the present financial year .
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Now the govt has announced a ten percent increase in salaries and pensions of state employees but the CPI-based inflation within the last three years had gone up cumulatively to over 26 percent.
The CPI based inflation on a mean stood at 6.8 percent in 2018-19, 10.74 percent in 2019-20 and around 10 percent within the outgoing financial year , although, the govt is projecting to curtail it at 8.62 percent.
Amid rising general inflation and particularly food prices, the govt announced jacking up the minimum salary from Rs17,500 to Rs20,000 per month. Pakistan’s inflationary pressures had witnessed an upsurge in recent months mainly due to imports of essential food products and petroleum group. within the aftermath of outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of foods got disrupted, therefore the food prices of imported items witnessed higher trends of costs .
When contacted, former minister of finance and economist Dr Hafeez A Pasha said that the important wages in Pakistan declined by a minimum of 9 percent because the govt claimed that nearly 80 percent of these who lost their jobs got their jobs restored. However, their real wages didn't increase. “Our conservative estimates suggest that the important wages in Pakistan declined by 9 percent within the outgoing financial year ,” he added.
Dr Pasha also acknowledged that the development sector where the govt achieved higher growth and economic activities also surged due to PM’s Construction Package but the important wages of the development sector also declined by 4 to five percent.
In the food group, the vegetable oil prices in US dollar terms have gone up from 706.9 per ton in October 2020 to 848.4 per ton in January 2021, so it witnessed a 20 percent surge in prices. Now the costs of vegetable oil have further gone up to $950 per ton, therefore the overall increase surged by 30 percent. it's resulted in increasing oil/cooking oil prices within the domestic market manifold in recent months for various brands.
The prices of soyabean oil have increased from $708.9 per ton in October 2020 to $1,200 per ton in January 2021 per ton, so it went up by 69.3 percent. it's getting used in feed for chicken, therefore the domestic prices of feed increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs4,000 per bag within the domestic market. the costs of chicken within the domestic market aren't coming down from Rs220 per kg.
The sugar has gone up from $442.3 per ton in October 2020 to $689.8 per ton in January 2021, therefore the prices surged by 56 percent. It had resulted in increasing domestic prices and it's now crossed Rs100 per kg mark within the domestic market.
The prices of pulses have increased from $446.2 per ton in October 2020 to $588.7 per ton in January 2021, therefore the prices became dearer by 32 percent. the worth of tea has gone up from $2.1 per ton to $2.2 per ton within the last three months and witnessed a surge by 6.6 percent. When contacted, government functionaries argued that the rising inflation for urban areas was pinching more but the food and commodity prices transferred hefty amounts into rural areas within the last three years. While comparing with the last five years, they said that the agricultural areas got hefty amounts because the prices of commodities had gone up and rural areas received around Rs1.7 trillion against over Rs375 billion within the last five years of PMLN government.
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