LAHORE: Devastating monsoon floods in Pakistan have caused food prices to soar, making many essentials unaffordable for the poor as the country struggles with shortages.
Over 33 million people have been affected by the floods, which have inundated a third of the country and killed over 1,100 people. According to the planning ministry, recovery may cost more than $10 billion.
Large expanses of productive agricultural land and crops have also been destroyed by the rains, which started in June and whose exceptional severity has been attributed to climate change. Roads and bridges have been washed away, cutting off portions of the mountainous north and breadbasket south.
Zahida Bibi, who had travelled to a market in the heart of Lahore to buy veggies for supper, said that things were so expensive as a result of the flood that she and her family were unable to purchase anything.
“How can we help? We don’t have enough income to pay such expensive costs for products. “The most affected items are tomatoes and onions, which are used in many Pakistani dishes.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday that both had seen price increases of 40%.However, the minister of finance, Miftah Ismail, claimed on Monday that the cost of onions had increased by more than five times and that the government was attempting to fast put policies in place to stabilise food costs, including buying from India, a country that is India’s main adversary.
The common consumer will eventually be most impacted because they are fundamental necessities. At the present high pricing, vegetable vendor Muhammad Owais in a market in Lahore was having trouble finding customers.
