Islamabad : The government-run utility store corporation (USC) has jacked up the prices of 900 items of daily use in different ratios here on Friday.

According to the USC notification, the price of dry milk for children’s use has increased its prices from Rs1350 to Rs1450 while the rate of 900-gram tea has been jacked up by Rs198. The prices of washing powders, shoe polish, honey, soap, washroom cleaner, red chili, drinks, pulses, ghee/cooking oil (branded), mixed pudding, chillies, custard, rice, pepper pack, tomato ketchup, noodles, all kinds of spices, tissue papers, shampoo, toothpaste, brush, salt, pampers and several other items of daily use have been jacked up by Rs10to Rs198.

The Utility Store Corporation (USC) Senior General Manager (Media) Inayat Ullah Dulla told ‘The News’ that overall we have increased the prices of 900 items. He said that we were facing a supply and demand issue because we did not want to increase prices but companies stopped supply. “We have issued a notification to increase the prices of daily use items,” he said.

Although the government has provided subsidies on some items like flour, sugar, and utility ghee but all subsidized items are absent at these stores all the time.

According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, the inflation ratio has reached to 38.63 per cent in the country.