Milk @PKR 210 a litre, chicken meat @PKR 700 per kg as Pakistan economy crumbles

Islamabad: Days for people in bankrupt Pakistan appears to be turning bad to worse. Reeling under severe economic crisis, consumers in this south Asian country continue to see skyrocketing price of daily use items including milk and chicken. Milk, chicken become rich men’s staple A litre of loose (unpacked) milk in Pakistan is now being sold at PKR 210 from PKR 190 earlier, a report by Dawn said. Live boiler chicken cost has been increased by PKR 30-40 per kg over the weekend, with consumers now paying PKR 480-500 per kilogram. Prices of edibles have been increasing unabatedly in Karachi. The report said that the live bird was sold at PKR 390-440 per kg till last week, while it was being sold between PKR 380-420 a kg in the last week of January. A kilogram of chicken meat is now being fetched at PKR 700-780 from PKR 620-650 per kg last week. Don’t Miss: Pakistan may be bankrupt, but Pakistanis give biggest ever opening to coffee giant Tim Hortons Boneless meat price in Pakistan has touch a record-high with a kilogram costing PKR 1,000-1,100, a spike of PKR 150-200 per kg from a week ago. Meanwhile, rate of boneless poultry has surpassed the price of boneless veal which is now being retailed at PKR 900-1,000 per kg. Meat with bones is being sold at PKR 800-850 a kg. Why milk, chicken prices in Pakistan at record high? The report quoted milk suppliers and dealers saying that the price of the commodity has been increased by majority of wholesalers and dairy farmers. They say that retailers were not getting milk at notified wholesale prices making it difficult for them to sell it at a controlled rate after getting at higher prices. Dairy farmers have increased the price of milk on 11 February to PKR 183 per litre from their official rate of PKR 163 litre which was fixed on 16 December, 2022, the report quoted Karachi Milk Retailers Association media coordinator Waheed Gaddi saying. Waheed said that the milk retailers in Karachi had two options - either to purchase milk at higher price or discontinue buying and selling it. For poultry, Sindh Poultry Wholesalers Association general secretary Kamal Akhtar Siddiqui blamed the retailers for charging customers at their whims. Must Read: Anonymous Pakistani donates $30 million to Turkey earthquake, netizens fume Siddiqui also highlighted that clearance of soya bean meal from the port continues to face obstacles. For the unversed, soya bean meal is one of the main ingredients of poultry feed. A 50 kg poultry feed bag is being sold at PKR 7,200, up by PKR 600 in the last one month. He warned that consumers may continue to face volatility in prices of poultry in coming months due to delay in opening fresh letters of credit for import of soya bean meal. Also, a fear of further devaluation of Pakistani rupee (PKR) was also making foreign suppliers of soya bean meal reluctant to strike any deal with local traders, Siddiqui said. Pakistan economic crisis Prices of edibles touching record high in Pakistan comes amid a stalemate in talks between IMF and the country which come as a blow to Shehbaz Sharif-led government. The nation is already struggling with the recovery from record-breaking floods last year that killed 1,739 people and destroyed 2 million homes. Pakistan’s inflation is at a 48-year high. Foreign currency reserves have fallen below $3 billion as of 9 February. A report by Pkrevenue states that the foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dropped to $2.917 billion. The Pakistani rupee fell on 11 February fell to PKR 271.50 per dollar in the inter-bank market, PK Revenue reported. Things got miserable for cash-strapped Pakistan last week after the country and the IMF have failed to reach a staff-level agreement on a much-needed $1.1. billion bailout package aimed at preventing the country from going bankrupt. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.