THE statement of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz that Prime Minister Imran Khan has declared Jihad (crusade) against inflation is reassuring in the sense that this is the biggest challenge facing the incumbent Government and the primary concern of the people.
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, he said the PM would focus on provision of relief to the people now besides giving targeted subsidies to the middle and poor classes.
The Minister did not elaborate further as to what the Government has in store to fight inflation when prices are going up on an almost daily basis and the steps so far taken by the federal and provincial governments have not borne any fruit but one hopes the authorities concerned would deal with the issue seriously in view of evolving political situation that has much to do with the phenomenon of price-hike.
In a way, Shibli Faraz expressed helplessness of the Government to address the issue as per satisfaction of the masses as he remarked that some of the reasons of price-hike were beyond the control of the Government and in this regard he referred to imported goods.
However, it is also a fact that these items have become dearer mainly because of the ill-conceived strategy of the Government to allow wholesale devaluation of the rupee under the influence of the propaganda that the rupee was artificially kept over-valued.
It is because of this that the prices of petroleum products are touching alarming levels in Pakistan despite the fact that prices of oil hover around $68 a barrel – much less than the all-time peak of $147 a barrel in 2008 (at that time domestic price of petrol was Rs. 62.80 a litre).
Similarly, higher incidence of taxation both on POL products and other items is yet another factor contributing to phenomenal rise in prices and the Government can definitely provide relief to consumers by lowering taxes especially those on food items.
The Government is also not as active as it should be on the administrative side to check artificial increase in prices and that is why producers, industrialists and traders jack up prices at their will.
Leave imported items aside, why prices of wheat, sugar and poultry have increased extraordinarily.
The Government can also mitigate sufferings of the people by providing relief in different ways and we hope this expectation of the masses would be fulfilled in the coming budget if not soon.
