Special Ramazan package to be announced this month

The Federal government is preparing a special Ramazan package to ensure cheap supply of the essential food items, including ghee and cooking oil. The package is expected to be announced this month.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has granted his consent for preparing a package, especially focusing on low-income groups for decreasing prices of essential food items before the holy month of Ramazan.
"The government is contemplating various options to reduce prices of ghee, cooking oil in the domestic market and one of them is to reduce the duty on import of palm oil," high-level official sources said here on Saturday.
A few days back, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah held a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture, Statistics Division and other high-ups to review price situation related to recent prices of ghee and cooking oil and surge in the domestic market. The prices of ghee and cooking oil registered surge by rupees five to seven per kilogram in the recent weeks.
The Finance Ministry high-ups also held a meeting with the Prime Minister during this week to get guidance from him in the government's plan for giving special Ramazan package.
"The Prime Minister has given approval to the plan and ordered steps to reduce escalating ghee/cooking oil prices in the domestic market," said the sources.
When contacted, Salman Shah confirmed that the government would announce special package within the next week for easing down prices of essential food items.
He said the government was taking steps in the shape of tightening of monetary policy and improving supply situation of food items for reducing inflationary pressure. "Inshallah, we will be succeeded in curtailing inflationary pressure," he added.
He said the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal), during a briefing, apprised him of the price trend and domestic production of sunflower, cottonseed and other relevant products.
To another query about sugar prices, he said the government took measures and improved the supply situation, and added now no one could increase sugar prices, as the government possessed sufficient stock of sugar for meeting domestic requirements.
If the government, he said, had not taken measures for improving supply situation of sugar in the domestic market, it might have gone up to Rs 50 to 60 per kilogram.
When asked about hike in prices of other food items such as tomato, he said there was seasonal adjustment in prices of certain items.