Pakistan has the third-highest inflation rate in the world: Sherry

Islamabad: Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman, regarding inflation in Pakistan, said a recent report by The Economist says that Pakistan has the third-highest inflation rate in the world at a whopping 12.30% for December and has been following a steep upward trajectory for several months.

“Inflation remains a top bread-and-butter issue for the majority of the people , yet the government continues to ignore it and evades all responsibility for the current state of the economy, crippling indebtedness, the trade balance and the sliding rupee,” she said.

She continued to say “ the inflation rate in the country has skyrocketed due to the incompetence of the incumbent government, which refuses to recognise the consequences of their inaction, mismanagement, given their preoccupation with container politics, and continues to blame the opposition or the past or external factors for their own myopia and inability to exercise political capital at home, make people-friedly choices or use diplomatic heft at multilateral forums . Ignorant, often laughable policy statements are released by PTI ministers on a daily basis to peddle their own amateurish rhetoric and convince people that prices are not out of control, but it is painfully clear that the thin veil of their so-called “Tabdeeli” and rhetoric is no longer holding, like the Emperor with no clothes. Instead of building consensus to deal with the growing crisis in public finances, the government is in dangerous denial about the scale and incidence of the pain it is inflicting on the people of Pakistan. This amateur hour at the cost of the public has to end. “

The Senator said, “Unsurprisingly, a recent survey showed that 90% of Pakistanis believe that inflation has been at its the highest point during the disastrous tenure of the PTI government, whereas 87% of Pakistanis believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction and 43% have stated that inflation remains their primary cause of concern. What is shocking, however, is that this survey came out in early December and despite the clear evidence of people’s concerns, the government has continued to ignore public opinion and worry by raising the price of petrol by Rs7 per litre since December, passed the disastrous mini-budget and raised the price of electricity by Rs8.63 per unit. During the tenure of this government, cooking oil price has skyrocketed by 130%, fuel price by 45% but the government remains in solid denial. All these costs, among others like gas, which is unavailable even at 300 percent price hikes, have crucial pass through effects on agricultural produce as well as manufacturing costs ”

Speaking on the plight of the people she said, “This is the state of the country even before the tsunami of inflation from the mini-budget. A whopping 17% of taxes is being slapped on essential goods at the dictation of the IMF after which even bread and milk will become unaffordable, leaving to widespread food insecurity and economic fragility across the board. Beyond the impact of Covid 19, it is the PTI that has ruined entire swathes of institutions, destroyed jobs, allowed cartelisation and mafias to surge in the rents they seek off the backs of average consumers. The lives of the people in this country are becoming increasingly unbearable, with entire households slipping into poverty and deepening inequality creating social instability by the day. Yet, sadly instead of looking for tangible solutions the government’s answer is to rub salt on people’s wounds and just borrow more and more money to drive an unsustainable financial model .”

She concluded by saying, “PPP has always been at the forefront of advocacy of the poor and the working class. For this reason, we will be holding a long march on the 27th of February. The unsurmountable difficulties that this government has created for the people amounts to abuse of power, misuse of executive authority in ignoring chronic and growing crises , and we categorically condemn the government’s ruthless negligence of economic realities on the ground. They clearly answer to some other powers and ignore the sovereign power of the people at their obvious peril.“