KARACH: The paucity of dollars may further impact the food items’ prices negatively as the Karachi Wholesale Grocers Association said businessmen had decided to stop importing edibles with effect from June 25.
According to a press release issued by the association, the decision is made after the commercial banks refused to provide dollars to them.
It said the importers were responsible for the clearance of goods that had reached the port or were on the way as no shipment dispatched after June 25 would be cleared.
The representative body of wholesale dealers described the State Bank of Pakistan’s policies as extremely harmful to the country’s economy and lamented that thousands of containers were stuck at the port, forcing them to pay fines and other charges, because of the dollar shortage.
During the July-May period of 2022-23, the food group imports [$8.380 billion] remained more of less stagnant with a 0.84 per cent decreased when compared with the previous fiscal year [$8.451bn], thus contributing to higher food inflation.
