KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group and president Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain said the sharp hike in the price of food items has made life difficult for the people.

Prices of different food items including flour, sugar, beef, mutton, chicken, pulses, fruits and vegetables have increased considerably due to artificial gap in demand and supply while the departments supposed to control prices remain dysfunctional, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said the country is already in the grip of hyperinflation, while the advent of Ramadan has further aggravated the situation taking the prices of fruits and vegetable sky-high and much beyond the purchasing power of the common man.

He said continued hoarding and profiteering has drained masses and compromised their buying power while there is a possibility of further price hike during the holy month resulting in an almost 100 percent hike in prices of some food items.

He said concerned departments are failing to discharge their duties as usual while the official rate lists have failed to gain any weightage as usual and people have to bear the huge storm of inflation this Ramadan as always.

The prices of some items mentioned in the official rate list are more than the purchasing price of shopkeepers because such lists are prepared by clerks without taking any pain. He observed.

He noted that prices are reduced ahead of the holy month in many western countries where the population of Muslims is less than five percent of the total but the situation at home has always remained disappointing.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021