IT is justifiably complained that most of the inflationary trends have much to do with the policies of the Government and there will be no relief for the masses until and unless policies are reviewed holistically. At a time when people were expecting reversal of inflationary pressure because of a comprehensive crackdown of the authorities concerned on mafias and smugglers, the Government virtually undid the process by massively increasing prices of petroleum products for the new fortnight.
Rs 26.02 per litre increase in the price of petrol and Rs 17.34 per litre in the price of High Speed Diesel just in one go has sent shock-waves among all segments of the society because of the impact of the decision on their daily lives. The Government has cited a rise in the price of oil in the international market as the reason behind the latest hike but the increase could have been averted by adjusting the recent gains in the exchange rate and readjustment of lopsided taxes. People see no logic in Rs 60 a litre Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) except to fleece them. In fact, wrong policies of the past have pushed us in a very tight corner as the country has not been left with any viable solution to the chronic problems of the people. The world is moving towards electric vehicles as a way out to economize on fuel but that is not an option for Pakistan where electricity rates are also among the highest in the globe. For the first time in eight weeks, the weekly SPI witnessed a marginal drop of 0.25% and there were expectations of further drop in coming weeks but those dreams have been shattered because of the wholesale increase in the rates of POL products. Jamat-i-Islami Amir has given a renewed call for protest against the latest increase and he is likely to get a highly favourable response as people have no more capacity to absorb unending shocks.
