LAHORE: In Pakistan, cooking oil and banaspati ghee are staple foods that are utilized in every home to prepare meals. Every household’s monthly budget will be impacted by the most recent increase in their rates.
Despite the government’s assertions that the nation’s inflation rate is declining, reports indicated that prices for cooking oil and ghee increased by up to 20% in just two months.
While cooking oil prices increased by Rs50 to Rs150, ghee prices increased by Rs30 to Rs120 per kilograms in several Pakistani towns.
Ghee, Cooking Oil Rates in December 2024
The premium “A” quality ghee costs between Rs505 and Rs559 per kilogram at retail. According to store owners, the cost of one kilogram of Sufi ghee has increased to Rs350 in Lahore and other towns.
However, a kilogram of “B” quality ghee costs between Rs440 to Rs500. The most recent price increase has been attributed by wholesale dealers to the rise in raw material prices on the global market.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures core inflation, further slowed to 4.9 percent in November 2024 from 7.2 percent in October 2024, according to a report released Monday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In the same month last year (November 2023), the CPI-based inflation rate was 29.2%, according to PBS data.
It climbed by 0.5% in November 2024 on a month-over-month basis, compared to 1.2% in the previous month and 2.7% in November 2023.
