'No one should be held responsible for exorbitant sugar prices'

ISLAMABAD: In response to former federal minister Ahsan Iqbal’s statement, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader Qamar Zaman Kaira has asserted that no one should be held responsible for ‘exorbitant sugar prices’, ARY News reported on Monday.

Speaking at ARY News’ programme ‘Off the Record’, the PPP leader said that the government makes decision on exporting the commodity by evaluating a report regarding the available stocks of sugar.

“No one should be held responsible for the increase in sugar prices,” he said, adding that the government only allows export when a surplus stock of sugar is present.

Qamar Zaman Kaira claimed that different commodities, including sugar, wheat and fertilizer, are smuggled from Pakistan to Afghanistan and Iran, expressing concern that steps have not been taken to prevent such smuggling.

Earlier in the day, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal blamed PPP leader Naveed Qamar for the recent hike in sugar prices in Pakistan.

In an interview with a private channel, Ahsan Iqbal lashed out at former federal minister for commerce Naveed Qamar over approval to export sugar.

He said that PPP’s Naveed Qamar permitted the export of sugar and PML-N cannot be blamed for the hike in sugar prices as the decisions were taken by the PDM coalition government.

On the other hand, Naveed Qamar defended his decision of exporting sugar saying that Pakistan had additional sugar that’s why sugar export was allowed. The sugar crisis will not end until the smuggling and hoarding is stopped.

Earlier, sugar prices hiked up to an all-time high in Karachi to Rs195 per kg as weekly inflation continues to accelerate.

The sweetener is being sold between Rs185 to Rs195 in Karachi’s retail market, while the rate in the wholesale market decreased to Rs178 per kg from Rs180.