With the arrival of Ramadan, rising food prices in the markets have raised concerns in the capital. Residents of Kabul say that with the arrival of Ramadan this year, food prices have risen as in previous years. They called on the Kabul municipality to control the prices of food items in the markets.
“A bag of flour costs 2,600 afghanis, 7 kg sugar costs 500 afghanis. Everything is expensive, what should we do with 50 to 60 afghanis?” said Raitullah, a resident of Kabul.
“We ask the Islamic Emirate to pay attention to the prices and control them,” said Abdul Rasul, a Kabul resident. During Ramadan, historically the prices of food increase.
Previously, the increase in food prices was considered a result of the increase of the dollar value against the Afghan currency, but now that the price of the dollar has decreased against the Afghani, there is no news of a decrease in the price of food in the country’s markets.
“One bag of flour costs 2,450 afghanis, 16 liters of oil costs 2,820 afghanis, 7 kg of sugar costs 420 afghanis and one bag of rice costs 2,600 afghanis,” said Esmat, a street vendor said.
Some who work in the streets of Kabul say that they cannot afford food.
“There are no jobs, money–people have no money. Prices rise every year during the month of Ramadan,” said Barri, a resident of Kabul.
Meanwhile, the Kabul municipality says it distributed price lists to shopkeepers in order to control the price of goods in the markets.
“By the decree of the PM, many institutions are involved and responsible, and we have considered the cases, from fining to blocking the shops and officially introducing them–in the case of repeated high-priced sales–to the judiciary institutions,” said Nematullah Barakzai, spokesman of the Kabul Municipality.
“When prices are set by the government, all types of import costs and the living conditions of the consumer must be taken into account,” said Qais Mohammadi, an economist.
Afghanistan is one of the countries that imports most of its food from other countries, especially from neighboring countries.—Tolo News
