With flour price relief yet to reach masses, pulse crisis emerges

Just when the prices of wheat flour are soon going to ease, following a merciless upward trend witnessed over the past few months, another fundamental kitchen commodity started to become costlier for a people badly battered by the inflation. Prices of pulses are going up, thanks to the non-clearance of imported consignments at the port due to a delay in the approval of relevant documents by banks. Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Association (KWGA) chairman Rauf Ibrahim said the traders held a protest outside the State Bank’s head office on Thursday against the no-clearance of over 6,000 containers of pulses at the port for the past two months on account of dollar shortage and banks’ reluctance in approval of import documents. A commodity importer/exporter, Faisal Anis Majeed told Dawn that the wholesale price of gram pulse had risen to Rs205 per kg from Rs180 on Jan 1, 2023, and Rs170 on Dec 1, 2022.