Finmin pledges price stability, safeguarding vulnerable families amid Pakistan floods
KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday said stabilizing prices and shielding low-income families from rising costs remained the government’s top priority, as Pakistan struggles with inflationary pressures compounded by recent flood damage to crops.
Punjab, home to more than half of Pakistan’s 240 million people and its main farming belt, has been devastated since late August when record monsoon rains swelled the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers simultaneously in a historic first. Punjab officials say 79 people have died and nearly two million acres of farmland submerged in the province’s worst flooding in four decades.
Now, as the floodwaters move south into Sindh, the country’s second-largest agricultural province, there are growing concerns for its key crops of cotton, rice and sugarcane, which form the backbone of Pakistan’s textile and food industries.
Economists and traders have warned the floods may elevate food and overall inflation in the coming months due to crop losses and supply chain disruptions.
