Pakistanis need relief from this govt, says Sherry Rehman

LAHORE: Slamming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government over increasing inflation, Vice-President Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Sherry Rehman said, “It is no surprise that Pakistan has been ranked at 4th out of 43 countries by The Economist for the highest inflation rate in the world, which was already at 9% in September.”

“The government needs to realise that blaming others for inaction to mask their incompetence is not a policy, what people need is a relief, not more press conferences. The country has been ruled by an incompetent government, mismanagement, and inflation for three years. The story of their failures is now being told by international magazines.”

“Some 77% of people believe that the government is taking the economy in the wrong direction, according to an IPSOS survey. It is shameful that [PTI] ministers are advising people to eat less bread and stop eating sugar to decrease inflation,” said Rehman.

“The country is currently experiencing high year on year inflation of 12.66% alongside the highest ever petrol prices Rs137/L, which are expected to go up again. Food inflation has gone into an unchecked upward spiral, basic food grain is being imported, putting pressure on the reserves. Inflation is likely to increase even further as petroleum prices, food import bills and devaluation of the Pakistani rupee are all on the rise. Food staples like wheat, ghee and sugar have become unaffordable,” she explained.

Highlighting the historic devaluation of the rupee, the PPP senior leader continued that “the government has failed to control inflation, unemployment, debt and now PTIMF [a combination of the PTI and the IMF] is presiding over the fall of the rupee as US dollar has soared to a historic high of Rs173.96 in the interbank market. It seems that they are working towards proving Fitch’s prediction of dollar reaching Rs180 in 2022, only that it might happen this year, considering the way things are unfolding”.

“The government is ruthless in its indifference to the average Pakistani, failing on every front, and taking Pakistan into perilous economic, financial and political waters. With unprecedented unemployment, poverty, food inflation, and untenable petrol, gas prices how are Pakistani people supposed to afford two square meals a day? There is a complete failure of governance embedded in zero empathy for the poor. The longer they stay on the longer Pakistan will go into a spiral of devastation on all fronts including institutional paralysis,” concluded Rehman.