KARACHI: As the holy month of Ramazan began on Thursday, people in Pakistan bore the brunt of high inflation as business activities in the South Asian country’s major date market picked up pace, with prices of several varieties surging by fifty percent as compared to the previous year.
The century-old market in Karachi’s historic Lyari area comes to life during the holy month of Ramazan. However, date prices are higher this year as the inflation rate in the country jumped to 31.5 percent in February.
Ramazan and inflation
Pakistani businessman Muhammad Ishaq told Arab News that everything has become too much expensive, and date prices have also raised. “What I bought for 350 rupees last year is now being sold for 500 rupees per kilogram,” he said.
Sellers said that sales of products especially fruit have also decreased compared to last year because of the price surge. They said that price hikes and the destruction of domestic crops during devastating floods are also the main cause of the current situation in the country.
Chairman of the Khajoor Market Association Muhammad Sabir told the media that the buying trend has decreased because of high rates in the country.
Another Pakistani businessman Hanif Baloch said that Pakistan is also a major producer of fruit but over 80 percent of date crops in the country were destroyed in the recent floods in Balochistan and Sindh. He added that the Pakistani variety of Mazafati and Aseel dates have not been coming to the market as Pakistan cultivates most of its dates in Sindh and Balochistan provinces and the two provinces were the most affected by last year’s flood.
