Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that having increased oil prices again under extreme duress, the government believed that any more burden on the poor masses would be unjust and it was a time for the elite class to sacrifice. According to the Prime Minister, an austerity drive will be started from the Prime Minister Office to Ministers, advisors, Federal and Provincial Secretaries to bottom level offices of the federal and Provincial governments. The Prime Minister said that the government tried to avert the burden of oil price hike, but it was done with a heavy heart as 90% of the country’s needs were being met through imported oil. According to him, the government had announced a relief package of Rs 2,000 each family under the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) to mitigate the impact of the oil price hike, however he stressed the elite class to play its role in that noble cause.
Pakistan is passing through a very crucial time of its history and multiple factors have complicated the situation including global economic crisis, fuel and commodity price hikes, and extraordinary devaluation of rupee, while change of the government at a critical stage made a havoc for the economy of the country. The new government has raised the fuel prices by Rs.60 per liter within weeks, which has put devastating effects on the national economy, businesses, and badly hurt the common households in the shape of massive increase in prices of commodities, transport fares, school fees, utility bills and other heads of domestic outflows. Earlier, NEPRA had raised the prices of electricity by Rs. 7.9 per unit from the next fiscal year thus the public will purchase electricity by Rs. 24 per unit from the next month. In fact, the low-income segments of the society including the middle and lower middle class would be affected severely by the latest wave of inflation while ever rising electricity bills, government taxes, higher prices of raw material and high manufacturing cost had created serious challenges for the local industry, particularly the export sector.
Although the government vowed to provide relief to vulnerable segments of the society through provision of Rs. 2,000 under Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) and subsidies on essential commodities including cooking oil, rice, wheat and sugar, these measures will not reduce the overall impact of inflation. The Prime Minister advocated for the implementation of austerity measures in government sectors, while the finance minister was of the view that the reduction in government expenditures would have a trivial effect as compared to the colossal subsidy on petroleum products. Historically, the governments had been calling the public for sacrifice for the country and this strategy is being repeated once again. In fact, the rulers must review their governance through self-accountability to identify their incompetence and politicized strategy that costed billions in flashy measures and appointment of dozens of incapable Ministers/ Advisors. The taxpayers’ money and foreign loans had been burnt in towery projects instead of promotion of microfinancing, cottage industry and other initiatives to strengthen the national economy. Therefore, the government must not demand more sacrifices from the public but redefine its priorities, use resources and leadership wisdom instead of bureaucratic recipes to revive the national economy.
