Bureau Report
KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain has said that increasing inflation and unemployment is intensifying the food security and nutrition issue.
Talking to business community, he said that masses deserve affordable bread therefore additional taxes should not be slapped on the flour mills but existing taxes should be waived and electricity should be provided to them on discounted rates, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that a four hundred percent hike in income tax and seventeen percent sales tax on bran has been proposed in the budget which has triggered concern across the country.
The decision will hurt the 1700 flour mills operating in the country while the price of flour was estimated to jump by Rs5 per kg but the prices are rising before the implementation of the proposals, he added.
The business leader said that wheat is disappearing from the market while prices have jumped from rs20 to Rs 30 in different cities which speaks of weakness of the administration.
Pakistan is among the countries with one of the highest per capita flour consumption which is 124 kg while total consumption is 28.5 million tonnes, he maintained.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the expected rise in price will burden masses by Rs1.5 trillion which is beyond their affordability.
A small clarification has appeared in the press which isn’t enough to allay the concerns of stakeholders therefore top government functionaries should clarify the position before the countrywide strike by the disgruntled millers which will irritate masses, he noted.
A proper clarification may dishearten hoarders to bring price stability in the market, he said, adding that government has recently decided to import three million tonnes of wheat which is recipe for disaster therefore a minimum quantity of four million tonnes should be imported.
The business leader said that flour mills should be provided cheap electricity so that it can reduce prices of the major staple.
