US dollar cheaper than tomatoes in Karachi

It is not an exaggeration that the people are being crushed by alarmingly reducing purchasing power and the unprecedented price hike. The fact remains that the government isn’t doing anything to control this trend.

Those representing Islamabad claim that controlling tomatoes’ price isn’t their job after the 18th Amendment, forgetting that the PTI is in power in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Certainly, the PTI government can approve sugar export but has nothing to with the current per kilogramme price of Rs110 to Rs115!

Take the example of tomatoes – the red little thing required by both the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, the businessman and the daily wager.

But the “tomato bombs” have hit the 15 million people of Karachi with great precision, as 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday said, they are now paying Rs200 for one kilogramme – the highest price in Pakistan. In fact, there has been an increase of Rs20 in the last week and Rs50 during the past two in its price for the Karachiites.

It means the people can buy the US dollar at a rate lower than the tomatoes. One can surely say that none of them will be proud of this status.    

When compared with other cities, the per kilogramme price difference to detriment of the Karachi residents is as follows: Sargodha and Bannu Rs100; Peshawar and Khuzdar Rs90; Lahore Rs70; Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Sukkur Rs60; Sialkot and Bahawalpur Rs50; Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Hyderabad Rs40.

The abovementioned price difference shows that the second-worst affected cities as a result of tomato bombs are Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Hyderabad with the citizens paying Rs160. Meanwhile, the price in Sialkot and Bahawalpur is Rs150 to make them third on this list.

On a side note, the country witnessed up to 15 percent increase in the prices of 25 essential items during the last week after Prime Minister Imran took notice of record inflation.

When compared with the last year, the prices of 41 out of 51 essential items have increased by up to 86 percent with the food inflation badly hitting the poor.

And please forget about any relief as the PTI government isn’t ready to provide any such thing to you. Allegation? NO as the government with effect from yesterday silently increased the petroleum levy for petrol by Rs1.14 to Rs28.46. 

This levy is besides the Rs15.11 sales tax the consumers are paying for one litre of petrol.

In this way, the total revenue collected by the government on one litre of petrol through petroleum levy, sales tax and duties currently stands at Rs54.14 when the actual procurement price is Rs50.39. Hence, the “Chinese puzzle” of revenue is more than the procurement price!