Skyrocketing food prices

Fortunate is one who can manage two meals a day from his own pocket

The prices of food commodities in the country are indeed skyrocketing. Fortunate is he who can manage two meals a day from his own pocket. Basic food items are getting dearer by the day so much so that even pulses and vegetables — which were once considered affordable — have gone beyond the reach of too many. As for meat, mutton has vanished from the menu plans of even middle class families, and beef has become a rarity. For all these ‘forced vegetarians’ in the country, chicken offers some bit of room to afford a ‘cheat day’ — once in a long while. Besides, the consumption of fruits by even those belonging to the middle class has dropped significantly simply because of being expensive, let alone those from the poor and the lower middle class.

The rise and rise in food prices appears to have caught the attention of the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan who has ordered steps to control the prices of basic food items. The Prime Minister has convened a high-level meeting — to be attended by the chief ministers of the four provinces, besides the authorities concerned — on the coming Friday to devise a strategy to control inflation which has turned into a double-digit demon over the last months. In one of its recent reports, the World Bank has warned that the rate of inflation will rise to 13 per cent in the next fiscal year, from 11.4 per cent currently — heralding even tougher days ahead for the common man.

There is an urgent need for the government to focus on how to bring the prices of basic food items under control. The government needs to activate the price control committees — which only seem to exist on paper — across the country with the help of elected representatives and ensure that those responsible for fluctuation in prices and hoarding are strictly dealt with. The government also needs to devise ways to ensure stocks at utility stores from where the common man can purchase the monthly ration at government-controlled rates without any difficulties.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2019.

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