Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday announced Rs 6 per kg subsidy on ghee and cooking oil to provide relief to the common man. The decision, to be effective from March 10, is part of the government's continued efforts to stabilise the prices of kitchen items and provide relief to the common man, the Prime Minister told a news conference here at the PM House.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani was also present on the occasion. Aziz said the government was already providing Rs 8 billion per annum in subsidy on consumer items since last March and the same package would continue for another year. Ghee and cooking oil with reduced prices will be available at all Utility Stores across the country also in one and two kilogram easy-to-carry packs, he added.
Ghee prices, the Prime Minister said, were linked with international prices of palm oil and Pakistan is a large importer of the commodity for its domestic use.
He said the local production of cooking oil was gradually increasing as the government had provided incentives to the growers of sunflower and canola.
The Prime Minister said due to the government's prompt measures, the prices of several items had been reduced with remarkable decrease in flour, ghee, sugar and gas prices.
He said the government was continuously monitoring the prices of items on daily basis and had broken the myth that once the prices go up these cannot be lowered.
He said the government had always maintained the buffer stock of critical items, which was released to Utility Stores immediately with the reports of price hike in the markets. He also mentioned opening of 100 new franchised Utility Stores and 200 more in near future, with minimum one at each Union Council.
The Prime Minister said flour was available at Utility Stores at Rs 13 per kg, sugar at Rs 26, ghee at Rs 67 and pulses with price reduction of 12-15 percent. Price Magistrates were continuously monitoring the prices of flour and the Chief Ministers of four provinces had been advised to keep check on flourmills, since it was a provincial issue.
He rejected apprehensions of smuggling of flour to Afghanistan, and said it was legally sent there in small quantity for the Afghan brethren in need. He said the subsidy on cement had reduced the price from Rs 400 to Rs 220 per bag, while the LPG cylinder was available at Rs 579 instead of the previous price of Rs 654. Aziz said the relief on electricity and gas was benefiting the people and the government was giving subsidy of Rs 60 billion on electricity.
He said the government had allowed increase in the electricity price by only 10 percent in four years and had given relief on initial 50 units for the middle-income people. To control the artificial price hike, the government had developed a market- driven mechanism to maintain prices of items, he added.
"Under the competition law, the government is giving much more teeth to the authorities to keep a check on market prices," he said.
He dispelled the impression that the government's focus on price reduction was due to upcoming elections, and said the objective was to provide relief to the people.
To a question, the Prime Minister clarified that declaration of his assets of a London account during his tenure as Senator, published in Herald, was a typo mistake where the decimal was replaced by a comma.
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