Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday blamed that Sindh shutting down three mills all of a sudden contributed to the record hike in sugar price.
Speaking at a ceremony in Attock to lay the foundation stone of Maternal and Child Hospital, he said, "The price of sugar in Pakistan has hit Rs 140 per kg. I inquired why this was so. I learnt that three sugar mills in Sindh which were operational were shut down", reported Geo News.
The prices of sugar in Pakistan zoomed past the prices of petrol on Thursday.
Despite the government's assurances of working to curb the prices of essential items in the country, sugar is being sold as high as Rs 150 per kg in different cities while petrol is currently being sold at Rs 138.30 per litre in the country, reported Geo News.
He said that when the three sugar mills in Sindh shut down, there was a sudden drop in supply and then prices rose to Rs 140 per kg, reported Geo News.
The prime minister said that it was further discovered that the Competition Commission of Pakistan had charged the mills with fines worth Rs 40 billion after they were found to have hoarded sugar through cartelisation. "They obtained a stay order against that too," he said, visibly vexed.
Imran Khan, in further criticism of the sugar mills, said that they had gone so far as to even obtain stay orders against the Rs 500bn in taxes that they were charged by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for selling sugar "off-books", which was discovered by the Sugar Commission that conducted a probe into the country's recent sugar crisis, reported Geo News.
This comes after Imran Khan on Wednesday announced "country's biggest-ever" subsidy package worth Rs 120 billion, providing 30 per cent discount on ghee, flour and pulses to support 130 million people by ebbing away from the impact of inflation.
( With inputs from ANI )
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