ISLAMABAD: During August, the inflation rate reached 27.3 per cent, the highest in the past 47 years, because the government decided to accept every requirement of the International Monetary Fund. The federal government has increased the prices of petrol and electricity at an alarming rate which has crushed the consumers under the highest inflation rate.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the year-on-year inflation rate of 27.3pc is the highest since May 1975, when it touched 27.8pc. According to media reports, the effects of rain-induced floods on inflation will be visible in September. The inflation rate in the transport sector went over 63pc as the petroleum prices surged by 84pc.
Electricity cost jumped by 123pc. The prices of perishable food groups hiked over 34pc. Other items that experienced a surge in prices include clothing & footwear by 17.7pc, stationery by 44pc, cleaning & laundering products by 39pc, and construction material by 28pc.
Hence, the problems have increased for the salaried class of society to manage daily living expenses. The coalition government was ambitious to keep the inflation at 11.5pc during the current fiscal year. However, the State Bank of Pakistan has already said that the inflation rate would fluctuate between 18 to 20pc. The initial reports, keeping the flood effects in forecast, suggest that the inflation rate will stay somewhere between 24 to 26pc.