Costly energy deepens consumers’ economic pain

The cost of living has gone up significantly amid surging utility bills and transportation expenses as consumers witnessed a mixed trend in prices of food items over the last Ramazan. As per data from the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), the average national price of a 20kg flour bag currently stands at Rs2,500-2,960 as compared to Rs1,295-3,000 prevailing on 1st Ramazan in 2023. Wheat 10kg bag and one-kg fine flour prices were Rs1,191 and Rs146 last year as compared to the current Rs1,240 and Rs156 per kg despite claims of flour millers of bringing down the rates after huge import of 1.980 million tonnes of wheat by the private sector costing $573 million during 7MFY24 to avert flour prices from crossing Rs200 per kg. During the same period last year, the government had imported 1.938m tonnes valuing $774m, thus posting a drop in the average per tonne (APT) of imported wheat to $289 from $399 in the above period.