ECC decides banning sugar exports

Islamabad: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet has decided to impose a ban on sugar exports on Monday.

The interim finance minister Shamshad Akhtar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).

The committee opted to ban the export of sugar. The ECC had cleared the summary to export 32,000 metric tonnes of sugar in June prior to this choice.

According to sources, the decision was taken in view of rising prices of sugar in the country..

Earlier, the Sugar prices hiked to a record high of up to Rs170 per kg in retail markets of Balochistan on Friday.

The sugar that was earlier being sold at Rs145 suddenly recorded a Rs25 per kg rise in Balochistan.

According to dealers, the price of the commodity increased after the supply of sugar got suspended as vehicles got stuck on the national highways after the suspension of permits.

The suffering of those who are already feeling the effects of inflation has increased as a result of the unexpected increase in sugar prices.

Earlier, The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) statistics from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that the short-term inflation rate has continued to rise and increased by 25.34% over the past year for the week ending on August 24.

The short-term inflation increased by 0.05 percent week over week and doesn't appear to be going down, which worries both economists and consumers.

According to data, the Combined Index was at 275.71 compared to 275.57 on August 17, 2023, while the index was recorded at 219.97 a year ago, on Aug 25, 2022.