Prices of essential foods items increased by more than 200 percent in last three years: Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Former Interior Minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator A. Rehman Malik has said that Pakistan is going through a bad patch of its history due to inadequate economic policies which have created non-bearable heavy foreign and local loans leaving the country in a dangerous economic crisis. He said that during the last three years of the PTI regime, the prices of ghee, oil, sugar, flour, and other basic food items have increased by more than 200 percent and inflation reached 9.5 percent which broke a 70-year record and similarly electricity rates have also increased by 57 percent and LPG prices have seen a rise of 51 percent while petrol price is increased by more than 49 percent. Among food items, the price of sugar increased from Rs54 per kg to over Rs150 per kg witnessing such a drastic increase, and the prices of lentils have also seen a dire increase, he added.

Rehman Malik said that he had predicted the fall of the Rupee for the first time when it had hit a low of the dollar to Rs115 and today Pakistan is witnessing a record low of its currency against the US dollar and has fallen behind other currencies in the region proving to be the worst-performing currency in Asia. “The value of the Indian rupee against one dollar is 74, Bangladeshi Taka is 85.65, Bhutanese Ngultrum is 74.27, and Nepalese rupee is 119 while Pakistan rupee is 175” he said. He expressed that it is sad to note that the countries in our neighborhood have better value, progress and strength in their economy and unfortunately, Pakistan is running behind all adding that despite having less inflation and a better economy than us, the average wage of an unskilled person in India and Bangladesh is double as compared to Pakistan.

Former Interior Minister further said that there is a steep decline in the purchase of basic commodities in a common household in Pakistan due to inflation which means that the purchasing power of every Pakistan has been reduced because of devaluation of rupee and prices hike. He questioned as to why are government ministers and responsible officials giving statements against the basic principles of economics and well-defined international rules and other internationally recognized parameters? He said that it was hurtful to learn the statement of the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan; that the Pakistani Rupee’s depreciation is benefitting the families of nine million overseas Pakistanis. Such statements are childish, irresponsible and hurtful as overseas Pakistanis are not happy with the depreciation of their national currency and the people of Pakistan are deeply concerned at the rate at which the Pakistani rupee is losing value and inflation is rising rapidly, he added.

Rehman Malik who is Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) also said that during previous regimes, poor people were at least given the liberty and resources to buy basic commodities, now the situation has become so miserable that even breathing has become expensive for them. He urged both government and opposition to refrain from hallow slogans on people problems and get the motherland out of the crisis for the sake of its survival and future generations. He suggested to commit half of the national budget to the agricultural sector and let the farmers of our country become economic soldiers. He said “we can bring revolutionary changes in pushing our economy in the right direction and the Ministry of Labour and IT should be tasked to increase a hi-tech labour force and get into the tech industry with export targets. He said that we certainly do not need sit-ins and power-hungry political moves but relief for the common man which will come with smart moves of right governance to bring the country back on track.

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