Pakistan’s economic crisis continues to worsen with each passing day. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the inflation based on sensitive price indicator (SPI) has been recorded at 47 per cent year on year at the week which ended on March 22.
The price of onions in Pakistan have increased by 228.28 per cent, cigarettes by 165.88 per cent, wheat flour by 120.66 per cent, gas charges for Q1 by 108.38 per cent and lipton tea by 94.60 per cent, Mint quoted a report by pkrevenue. According to the 51 items tracked, the price of diesel rose by 102.84 per cent, bananas by 89.84 per cent, petrol by 81.17 per cent and eggs by 79.56 per cent.
An International Monetary Fund official has said that the long-awaited loan agreement between Pakistan and the global moneylender will signed once the proposed fuel pricing scheme are settled, Reuters reported.
Both Islamabad and IMF have been negotiating an agreement for a $1.1 billion loan to the nuclear-armed country. Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced move to charge affluent customers more for fuel and the money raised will be used to subsidise prices for the poor.
Pakistan’s petroleum minister Musadik Malik said that his government has been given six weeks to work out the fuel pricing plan.
Pakistan is desperate for the IMF agreement to disperse a $1.1 billion tranche. The citizens are struggling to afford basic items. To ease burden off the low-income families, the provincial governments had announced plans to distribute flour bags in Ramzan. But there were reports of stampedes in parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Express Tribune reported.