Just two months after harvesting with the federal minister for food security worried about the “missing” wheat, the flour price is further increasing in the country leaving the people already hit by alarming inflation bewildered.

In Karachi, the price has been increased by Rs2.5 per kilogramme, as the 10-kg bag of fine flour has now jumped to Rs645 against the previous level of Rs620, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

It means the citizens of a country whose economy is based upon agriculture are paying Rs64.5 for one kilogramme of flour which is staple food in our region.

On the other hand, the people in Balochistan now have to buy one kilogramme of flour for Rs55 after the price was hiked by Rs5 per kg.

The latest increase in flour price has multiplied the anxiety and miseries of the people who are already reeling from a high inflation rate and reduced purchasing power amid economic slowdown initially triggered by devaluation.

Meanwhile, the latest sugar rate at the grocery stories has reached Rs85 amid the tall claims of a clampdown on sugar mafia.

But with zero control on controlling prices of daily use items, the sugar price is Rs90 many other parts of the country. And the Alipur tehsil in Muzaffargarh district of Punjab is one of them.

This Rs5 increase means that the sugar price has jumped to Rs90 from Rs85 after the wholesale rate skyrocketed to Rs4,160 for a 50-kg bag. Thus, the shopkeepers are buying one kilogramme of sugar for Rs83.20.

In this scenario, one of the grocery stores owner said he had stopped selling sugar as he would face a loss of Rs14 per kilogramme if the commodity was sold at the rate fixed by the government.

The situation can be gauged by the fact that Federal Minister for Food Security Fakhar Imam expressed surprise over sale of wheat and flour at exorbitant rates soon after the harvest season notwithstanding the fact that he should have known both the reason and the panacea.

He admitted that more than six million tonnes of wheat was purchased from farmers after the harvest two months ago, but it had vanished in the market.

“Six million tonnes of wheat was purchased but [nobody knows] where it has gone,” the minister told the National Assembly.