ISLAMABAD: Despite a formal announcement there is no possibility of any relief to the end consumers on ghee and cooking oil prices in the near future.
Sources said the government had held talks with the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) last week with a focus on seeking a declaration that the industry will pass on 100% benefit of cutting down of taxes on ghee and cooking oil prices to the end consumers. According to an insider, PVMA did agreed to the government to pass on benefit of cutting down of taxes to the consumers in the form of reduction in ghee and cooking oil prices, but its office bearers fell short of giving an undertaking to the government that PVMA would gurantee that the ghee and cooking oil prices will not go further up. To this demand of the government , PVMA office bearers declined to give any assurance to the authorities. PVMA office bearers were of the view that since ghee and cooking oil prices are linked to the international market how come PVMA can extend any assurance to the government for future prices of ghee and cooking oil if the international market goes further bullish.
This disagreement has created a deadlock between the government and PVMA , leaving no chance of any relief to the end consumers in ghee and cooking oil prices.
This is not for the first time that the government decided to go silent after making formal announcement of relief to the public. Prior to the ghee and cooking oil sector, the government had done the same abortive attempt in the case of the car prices. The government hinted at cutting down car prices by reducing duties and taxes on car assembling, but later it left the buyers at the car lobby’s mercy when the manufacturers refused to cut down the car prices equal to possible reduction in duties and taxes. The government is following the same approach in the case of ghee and cooking oil. It made a formal announcement for halving the taxes on ghee and cooking oil some two weeks ago, but now when PVMA did not agree to give an undertaking for a job which is not in its domain the government seems to go indifferent on the issue .
The demand of not letting go ghee and cooking oil prices further up shows the government of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) is either unaware of the working of ghee sector which totally depends on import for ghee and cooking oil stocks or its economic wizard like Asad Umar just made the annoucement of relief to the consumers in ghee and cooking prices to give them a lollipop only.