Pakistan has abundant natural resources, but poor governance and corruption have prevented ordinary citizens from benefitting from this wealth. A considerable amount of bribery, nepotism and the use of political office for personal enrichment remained highest throughout the current PPP regime. Pakistan has been experiencing double-digit inflation over this period mainly due to increase in prices of oil, electricity and food. Prices of every essential commodity like pulses, grains and sugar have gone up by leaps and bounds. The poor and the middle class are extremely finding it difficult to lead an honorable life as grocery items have become unaffordable for them. Right now, the Country appears stuck with the various off shoots of the crisis (such as shrinking private inflows, weakening Rupee, lack of energy, highest unemployment rate, nose-diving foreign reserves, ever rising commodity prices and almost hyperinflation). Zardari-led coalition Government has forced the masses to switch to cheaper substitutes, raising concerns about possible malnutrition.
The most visible impact of rising food prices on the economy is acceleration of inflationary pressure. High inflation has pushed the food purchase bills up and common man is hardly affected in this era of highly increasing prices. Pakistan’s inflation rate has grown more than expectations with increase in fuel and food prices. The government has raised the prices of petroleum products especially oil, CNG and electricity which have pushed the production and transportation cost up thereby accelerating inflation rate above 12 percent against targeted single digit. The utility bills and other expenses have gone up exponentially. In areas of food and water, education and health, employment and so forth people across Pakistan face extremely serious problems of corruption. When attempting to gain the basic services to which they are entitled as members of society, corruption remains a serious obstacle. Dysfunctional government institutions continue to paralyze the country and its people. Due to the increasing level of unemployment the purchasing power of common man has significantly shrunk. I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.
Many people do not realize that inflation is with us, and it is an extremely destructive hidden tax, especially on the poor of Pakistan. Inflation reduces the buying power of our money, so we become poorer, even if we have the same amount of money in the bank or in our pocket. Inflation is a matter of grave concern. It is climbing across Pakistan and getting enough to eat has become a big challenge for tens of millions Pakistan. While budgetary allocations are inadequate to meet legitimate public expectations, state authorities misuse the allocations themselves. Apart from this, foreign aid for socio-economic development projects often ends up in the hands or pockets of corrupt politicians and those in authority, defying all attempts at accountability. Surging food prices in Pakistan are now forcing families to cut back on meat, fruits and vegetables.
Poverty is a vicious circle. Poverty causes further poverty. Just as the rich get richer because they are already rich, poor people get poorer because they live in poverty. It has become impossible for the common man to support a family as the government has failed to provide any relief on basic necessities. On consumers, escalating food prices in the face of inflation lower the purchasing power of the Rupee, fanning a higher cost of living and ruthlessly lowering the quality of life. The energy crisis has declined the industrial production due to which unemployment has jumped highest. Poor families now spend more than half their household income on food and are bearing the brunt. The middle-income average households’ monthly budgets are further stretched against worsening food prices, having to spend some 70% to 80% of household incomes on putting food on the table. The government is hiking prices of petrol, diesel, gas and electricity. This shows that it has become a symbol of heartless government. The PPP government was brought to power by the common man but today it has failed to understand their pains. PPPs’ misrule, corruption, inflation and neglect of the common man has resulted into miseries of masses. Their government has crushed unarmed people in cold blood. PPP is a cancer for the country and needs to be eradicated in coming elections. A government protects lives, doesn’t kill its citizens. But the PPP government is serving inflation amounting to death for the people of this country.
In the rural areas, people can barely eat two-square meals a day. They cannot pay the school fees of their children and are unable to afford medical treatment for their aged parents. Millions and millions of people are suffering under the burden of rising costs. Faced with these circumstances they feel their life is not worth living any longer and feel it better to die. Support services such as education, shelters and health care are grossly inadequate for majority poor. Food riots are expected broken out, as people struggle with the rising costs of basic food material. Victims face formidable barriers to obtaining redress through the justice. Government pricing policies, with the wheat price going up by 218% per 40kg, from Rs.550 to Rs.1200, have also impacted 90 % of the population, severely hit by the price hike. Only big landlords have benefitted from this hike in support price as small farmers grow wheat hardly for their own useAnother major contributor to all the unrest, demands and inflation is the fact that a large portion of the population is in debt. There is an unfortunate history of exploitation of debt among poor people, and unscrupulous micro lenders have been allowed to run rampant in poor communities. This brings us to the role of the government and what it should do about the problem. First of all, what is a government there for – what is its job? It is primarily to protect its citizens. And what if many of its citizens are financially illiterate? Then it must pass laws to protect them from exploitation via usury. The debt trap has crippled and imprisoned the country’s earning capacity.
Inflation is indeed a devil that needs to be controlled and reined! If it crosses the double digit, is an index of an absolutely weak economy. The State Bank is being treated by the PPP regime as a printing press for making currency notes worth of billions of rupees every day. Printing more money doesn’t increase economic output in any way - it merely causes inflation due to devaluation of currency. There is absolute lack of proper economic planning on part of the government. The Government should immediately stop printing excessive money. Government loans have surged up to more than Rs.13, 000 billion which needs to be strictly controlled through proper legislation. The cost for essential items should always be less but it is almost as high as luxury items or non-essential items. Inflation needs to be controlled at least partly by a dear money policy to plug precautionary and speculative motives while accelerated economic development requires a cheap money policy. The government has to adopt appropriate policies and develop a method to control essential foods’ prices to provide relief to millions of poor people who are suffering due to soaring food inflation.
