Pakistan: People Chase Truck Carrying Flour Amid Deepening Food Crisis | WATCH

As Pakistan reels from a deepening food crisis, visuals of people on motorcycles chasing after a truck carrying flour have emerged on social media.

Sharing the video on Twitter, the Chairman of National Equality Party Jammu Kashmir Gilgit Baltistan and Ladakh (JKGBL), Professor Sajjad Raja said, “This is not a motorcycle rally, but people in Pakistan are chasing a truck loaded with flour, in the hope that they will buy just one packet of flour. Do we have any future in Pakistan? This video is just a glimpse of what is happening in Pakistan.”

In the video, people are seen chasing a truck carrying sacks of flour. Some ask for flour while showing money in their hands.

According to a recent The Nation report, the prices of flour have skyrocketed in Lahore while the commodity was not available in most shops across the province. A 15kg flour sack is being sold for Rs 2,050 as of January 6, after the increase of Rs 150.

The video of the challenges faced by people in Pakistan is the second such to surface in the past week. A video of people filling up improvised plastic bags with natural gas at shops that are connected to the country’s gas pipeline network for cooking in the impoverished neighbourhoods in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province went viral earlier this month.

The video reflected Pakistan declining gas reserves as international LNG providers defaulted on their gas delivery contracts with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s economic situation is facing severe headwinds with inflation being forecast to stay high between 21-23 per cent and the country’s fiscal deficit widening by more than 115 per cent in the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year.

The country, with an economy of Rs 350 billion, is in dire need of foreign aid to reduce its current account deficit as well as ensure enough reserves to meet its debt obligations.

Pakistan’s economy has been on a downhill because of the political crisis, plummeting rupee, inflation which is at an unprecedented high, added to it last year’s devastating floods, and a global energy crisis which has further worsened the situation.

The country faces a serious crisis as its foreign reserves are down to USD 5.8 billion, the lowest since February 2014. The reserve includes deposits worth USD 5 billion from Saudi Arabia and China with specific conditions of use.

In its call for funds at the recent International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan in Geneva, the country was able to secure pledges worth over USD 10 billion, most of them loans.

(With inputs from agencies)

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