Prices of fuel, food items up, gold down in Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): The prices of fuel and food items increased, but that of gold declined in Kabul during the outgoing week, market sources said on Saturday.

Fuel up

A worker at the Ahmadyar pump station told Pajhwok Afghan News the rate of one litre of petrol surged from 59afs to 64afs, and the diesel price went up from 59afs to 68afs.

He added the price of one kilogram of liquefied gas increased from 48afs to 58afs.

According to sellers, the prices of fuel increased in Kabul’s markets due to the war between Iran and Israel and rising global prices.

Food items

Zmarai Safi, head of the Food Traders’ Association, said the price of a 49-kg sack of Kazakh jumped from 1,300afs to 1,500afs.

The price of a 24-kg bag of Pakistani rice remained unchanged at 2,600afs, but a 49-kilogram bag of Indian sugar went up from 2,500afs to 2,550afs and, a 16-litre bottle of Malaysian cooking surged from 1,600afs to 1,700afs.

He added one kilogram of African black tea accounted for 400afs and the same amount of Indonesian green tea for 350afs.

Hamid Sufizada, a retailer at Dahna-i-Bagh market, put the retail price of a 49-kg bag of flour at 1,550afs, a 24-kg bag of rice at 2,650afs and a 49-kg sack of sugar at 2,600afs.

A 16-litre bottle of cooking oil cost 1,750afs, he said, adding one kilogram of black tea accounted for 400afs and the same quantity of green tea for 450afs.

Gold down

Mohammad Fawad, a jeweller in Timor Shahi area, said the price of one gram of Russian gold decreased from 4,850afs to 4,800afs and the same amount of Arabian gold declined from 6,200afs to 6,100afs.

Afghani vs dollar

Haji Mohammad Hussain, owner of the Sadaqat Money Exchange Service, said one US dollar was traded at 71.30afs and 1,000 Pakistani rupees at 245afs against their previous week’s rates of 70.20afs and 240afs.

The spike in the afghani value is essentially linked to periodic dollar auctions by the central bank.

hz/ma