All Pakistan Business Forum has expressed its serious concern over the soaring inflation, which has reached the highest level during last seven years amidst tight monetary policy of the state bank, advising the government to address structural weaknesses to put the economy on a path of sustainable growth so that the inflation could be also controlled.
“Not only this level was double the inflation observed in the same quarter last year, it was also the highest level of quarterly inflation since Q4 of FY12.” This outcome was attributed to the lagged pass-through of the exchange rate depreciation towards the end of FY19; rationalization of energy tariffs; and revenue-led fiscal measures taken in the budget 2019-20, which included the imposition of federal excise duty on a number of consumer items, and the ending of the zero-rating regime for export-oriented sectors and of the reduced GST regime on sugar, he added.
