Govt should revive agriculture sector with full force to overcome inflation

F.P. Report

KARACHI: Secretary General (Federal) of Businessmen Panel (BMP), Ahmad Jawad has said that the government needs to revive agriculture sector will full force to over the inflation caused due to various reasons that has gripped the country.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Ahmad Jawad said that improving the agriculture sector and reducing the oil prices can help a lot to control inflation.

The country economic managers needs to be realistic, to reduce the inflation IMF recommendations were not the only solution, he said adding we should come out from the balance sheets phenomena and our strategy should be field oriented.

He demanded government immediately announce the support price for cotton and production of pulses so that farmers may get incentivise, similarly reduce the taxes on diesel fuel because current price of diesel is hitting the masses.

“I recalled few years back diesel prices were lower than petrol but due to imposition of unrealistic taxes on this fuel to achieve the tax targets would hit public drastically till now”.

Jawad also stated until and unless rupee cannot be stable the shocks of inflation may be witnessed time to time except some out of box solutions by the incumbent government as inflation cannot be controlled but putting few bucks for Utility Stores. The weakening currency impacted the consumers’ purchasing power as devaluation fuelled inflation.

“With devaluation, there is inflation, when there is inflation, your disposable income goes down, which affects consumption behaviour and spending power. There is a decline in aggregate demand, which is why there is an economic slowdown.

He questioned what we achieved after weaken the rupee? in which economic term where is stated that what will be the criteria to determine the real value of dollar. It’s basically a myth nothing more and it’s a tactics of IMF to pressurise the third world countries because they cannot afford to strengthen their local currency.

That’s why our economists presents their different formula’s which mostly basis on theoretical calculations; he lamented.

He said do we sure after completion IMF program PKR will be strengthen; I don’t think so. “One should remember devaluation is mother of all evils” and it’s a proven history when we went for devaluation we didn’t recover back.

Jawad said if we didn’t fix the dollar, put agriculture sector back on track with full force and incentivise the industrial sector, I petty dollar against rupee will even cross 200 bench mark. Even with today’s massive devaluation impact, country debt increased more than four trillion rupee with a so called myth of market driven forces by our economic managers; he concluded.

He also urged that agriculture sector should be given back to Federal Government through parliamentary amendment because in leading economies like even in India, agriculture is the federal subject and hope Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) will support too in the best interest of the country’s economy.