PAKISTAN Bureau of Statistics (PBS) report for the week ending 31st October shows that inflation week on week basis has recorded an increase of 1.38 percent as compared with the preceding month. It was measured on the yardstick of sensitive price index (SPI). The present government has changed the base year and excluded few representative commodities from the basket of items of daily use to determine the real rate of inflation. Likewise, the consumption group of does not include the prices of medicines which has been allowed to go up by 200 percent, notwithstanding the fact that medicines of blood pressure, cardiac complaints and diabetes are the items of daily use by the patients suffering from these diseases. Is not a display of attitude against humanity? As the government has fixed 2015-16 a base year with value of 100, therefore rise in weekly inflation rate by 1.38 percent is alarmingly high, although it has been measured on SPI, which is not the sole barometer of inflation rate calculation. Other two indices the consumers’ price index and cost of living index shall also have to be taken into account. That is why the official number of inflation does not reflect the ground reality.
The PBS report states that prices 17 items have gone up and that of 7 kitchen items of daily consumption have decreased. The market pulse totally repudiates that prices of wheat flour, Chicken, gur, mong pulse and gram have decreased. Moreover, the prices of essential food commodities have skyrocketed, including tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, cauliflower, cabbage, kalocasia, pea, cucumber, bananas, guava, eggs and sugar. The price of sugar on Utility Stores has been increased by government unannounced. Another bitter truth is that federal and provincial government authorities collect illegal and unaccounted for road tax on imported vegetables during transportation to markets such as tomatoes, potatoes and onions which is also a major contributory factor of galloping price spiral.The administrative measures of price control and the political gimmick of opening of “Insaf Sastha Bazars” have not helped ensure smooth supply to bring down prices. It makes the PBS valuation about inflation rate unreliable. Last week, an outrageous discussion of two and half hours was held in the cabinet meeting on the out-of-bottle ‘genie’ of high price spiral for which five minsters and one advisor from the political class pointed their accusing finger on bureaucracy for delays in the import of food commodities.
