Several medicines including painkillers, anti-infection drugs, cardiac drugs, and antibiotics get expensive after Economic Coordination Committee approved the hike.
Already distressed Pakistanis will have to pay more for routine and essential medicines as the South Asian nation grapples with skyrocketing inflation while local currency depreciated massively.
Earlier, Sharif-led government dismissed a request by pharma giants to increase the prices of more than 100 medicines, but the firms pushed the government and warned of a shortage of several drugs which prompted the recent action.
In a recent meeting, officials approved the increase of up to 20 percent in retail prices of generic medicines and 14 percent for essential ones, while drug manufacturers are still not happy as they called for at least a 40 percent increase.
The hike was approved as Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presided over a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC). In a statement, Finance Ministry said: “To ensure continuous availability of drugs in the market, the ECC allowed as a one-time dispensation, manufacturers and importers to increase their existing MRPs of essential drugs equal to 70 percent increase in CPI (with a cap of 14 percent) and MRPs of all other drugs and lower priced drugs an increase up to 70 percent in CPI (with a cap of 20 percent) on the basis of average CPI for current year i-e 1st July, 2022 to 01st April, 2023.”
Officials maintained that the hike in prices should be considered an annual increase for the financial year 2023-24, and no further increase in this category would be granted in the next financial year.
The surge comes in the wake global increase in the price of raw materials, while the dollar shortage also forced the government to import several medicines which caused a temporary shortage of several drugs which were also sold at an elevated price.
The lower and middle class of country are bearing the brunt of the ballooning inflation in the country as inflation increased by 0.15 percent to reach 46.82 percent.
Source : Daily Pakistan
