ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday said the government was giving a subsidy of three billion rupees to provide ghee to the masses on reduced rates.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, she pointed out that the price of ghee in the open market was Rs550 per kilogram whilst it was being provided at the rate of Rs300 per kilogram through the Utility Stores Corporation. “This accounts for a subsidy of 250 rupees on each kilogram of ghee,” she said.

So, if Pakistan’s population is 221 million and the Rs3 billion subsidy of ghee is divided on the citizens then each citizen will get Rs13.6.

The minister for information said a wheat flour bag of 10 kilogram was also being provided at reduced rates of Rs 400 through Utility Stores. She said the flour was available at the same rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as per the promise made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

She said 100 mobile units and 600 stationery sale points had been added to the system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure the availability of wheat flour to the masses in the province.

Read more: Govt announces Rs2,000 subsidy for households earning below Rs40,000 a month

Marriyum Aurangzeb said that price control committees had also been constituted. She said steps were being taken to check hoarding and smuggling of the essential commodities.

The information minister said Rs17 billion had been earmarked in the budget for the provision of cheap ghee, flour and sugar to the people in the next fiscal year.

Alluding to the failures of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government, she said the present government was taking steps to take the economy towards stability. A package had been announced in the budget for the agriculture sector as well, she added.

She said the government haf taken practical steps to provide relief to the masses.

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