PTI calls for taxing sugar profiteering to provide relief to power consumers

ISLAMABAD: Blaming the outgoing PDM government for opening the ‘floodgate of inflation’, PTI’s focal person on economy Muzamil Aslam on Thursday said the sugar barons pocketed around Rs255 billion to Rs260 billion in the last six months due to massive hike in sugar price.

Referring to the countrywide public protest on inflated power bills, he said if the government levied tax only on the sugar profit, the people could be given a major relief in electricity bills through the money collected from the tax.

He said if the current price of sugar remained unchanged till November, the sugar barons could earn a whooping Rs127 billion extra in profit. The PTI leader pointed out that the sugar price doubled during the last three to four months that compounded the miseries of the inflation-ridden and poverty-stricken masses manifolds.

Commenting on the price spiral of the ‘sweetener’, Muzamil recalled that sugar was available at Rs85 per kg 16 months ago when the PTI government was toppled through a conspiracy but now it was being sold at the exorbitant price ranging from Rs150 to Rs180 per kg.

He said that the annual consumption of sugar in Pakistan was six million tonnes as 0.5 million tonnes of sugar was being consumed per month in the country. He revealed that an increase of Rs85 per kg in the price of sugar would earn a profit of Rs85,000 per ton, adding that if the annual profit was calculated, the sugar barons would pocket a whooping Rs510 billion in profit from the sale of only six million tonnes of sugar.

The PTI leader asked as to how much money the sugar mafia would have earned due to the massive increase in the prices of sugar.

He further said that last year, the PDM government imposed a ban on the import of soybeans, which were used as a main poultry feed, pushing up the chicken price to Rs600 per kg which was available at Rs250 and Rs300 at that time. “As a result, the people associated with soybean business had also earned billions of rupees due to the ban on soybeans,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PTI spokesperson said the key players of the regime change conspiracy should be held accountable for the economic debacle in the country. He said the people involved in the regime change conspiracy were responsible for the current economic disaster of the country and back-breaking inflation.