Only Rs68.18 relief to common man from govt package

KARACHI: The government has announced Rs15 billion subsidy to check inflation and provide relief to the public, but in reality a common man will get only Rs68.16 relief.

Economic experts believe the government step appears to be positive but it would not provide a mentionable relief to people in reality. They said the relief amount was just peanuts, as with this amount, a common man would be able to buy just one kilogram of flour,but not even a single kilogram of sugar. They believe it would not have any positive impact on the common man.

The experts say if the government wanted to provide any genuine relief, the government would have to bring the prices of all daily-use item down to their previous level, which appears to be impossible in the current circumstances.

According to official figures, in 2018-19, the country produced 25.2m-ton wheat, 7.2m-ton rice, 4.9m-ton sugar, 4.478m-ton meat, and 5.75-lakh-ton fish. To meet the food items needs of the population, the country had to import 39.5m-ton refined sugar, tea worth of Rs58.98 billion, edible oil worth of Rs192 billion and pulses worth of Rs61.03 billion. During the same financial year, the country exported wheat worth of Rs15.51 billion, sugar worth of Rs15.165 billion, rice worth over Rs199 billion and fruit worth over Rs49.39 billion.

Economic experts say the prices of edible items are at the highest level currently. If there had been a better planning, the edible items, which are in abundance in the country, could have been provided and prices could have been controlled.

Economic expert Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui, talking to daily Jang, said Rs15 billion subsidy would not provide any relief to people. The government would collect more revenue by hiking the prices of petrol and gas than the relief being offered to people. He said that at present, inflation is at the highest level in the country’s history. To bring down prices to a normal level is a big challenge for the government that doesn’t look possible. To get items like flour, rice, sugar, pulses and ghee from utility stores, people will have to stand in long queues.

In the past, the governments have been offering relief on these items in the month of Ramazan. Last year, the government had announced a relief of Rs2 billion in Ramazan and offered flour, pulses, rice, sugar and ghee at subsidised rates. However, utility stores could not sell edible items properly and people could not avail the relief. Now under the same old formula, the government has announced relief on daily-use items.