PAKISTAN-INFLATION – TELAM Agency
Inflation in Pakistan reached a record in March, with a year-on-year price rise of 35.37%, an unprecedented figure in 50 years, at a time when the government is trying to meet IMF conditions to unlock a bailout plan.
In March, monthly inflation was 3.72% and the average inflation rate so far this year was 27.26%, according to government data published today, the AFP news agency reported.
The country is heavily indebted and must raise taxes and water and electricity prices to unlock a new tranche of the US$6.5 billion rescue plan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and avoid falling into a moratorium on the debt.
According to the Ministry of Finance, inflation is expected to remain at “high levels due to market frictions caused by the relative difference between supply and demand for essential products, the depreciation of the exchange rate and the recent upward adjustment of gasoline and diesel prices.
Years of financial mismanagement and political instability have brought the Pakistani economy to the brink of collapse, a situation exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that last year left a third of the country under water.
At least 20 people have been killed since the start of Ramadan in clashes sparked by food distributions.
“Given rising inflation, I think a famine situation is coming,” says Shahida Wizarat, a Karachi-based analyst.
Source: Ambito
