The sanctioning of wheat and sugar imports, which is being done at any cost, is being done not so much as to alleviate shortages, as to avoid them altogether. To a large extent because of the covid-19 pandemic, international commodity prices are high and trending upwards. Importing now thus runs the risk of importing that inflation into the country. Certainly, the rice price of staples that it intends to import is already such that it will further burden the man in the street. The kind of inflation due to the tariff hike is all the more worrisome for the government as it will hit in the last two years of its tenure, just as it heads towards elections.

Source: Pakistan Today August 26, 2021 18:00 UTC