ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Assistant on Monday ruled out “immediate relief” from the rising inflation, saying that it could take at least five months for the “abnormal increase” in global prices.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the Planning Minister pointed out that the world was passing through a critical period of extremely high commodity prices and Pakistan was no exception.
“The situation might remain same till March 2022, however as per projection of the international experts the prices of the commodities might start receding to normal level from March to June next year,” Asad Umar said.
The federal minister further said that once international commodity prices stabilised and the trend headed towards normalisation, “the government will then be responsible to pass on that relief to the masses.”
While stressing that the world is going through an “extraordinary” situation in terms of commodity prices, Asad Umar said the rates of basic commodities were still lower in Pakistan compared to the rest of the world.
The planning minister reiterated that the prices of petroleum products and other commodities were still low in Pakistan compared to other regional countries mainly due to smart lock down policy during COVID-19.
However, Umar admitted that purchasing power of people had been direly affected in Pakistan in view of soaring inflation in recent months. “The government is now set to roll out targeted subsidies to the masses and this is the best time to take this measure,” he added.
The minister announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan would unveil details of the subsidy programme in the next few days, and subsequently, after a month, people would start getting some relief.
Umar also said that the government has decided in principle to reduce the edible oil price by forty-five to fifty rupees per kilogramme. “Sales tax on edible oil will be cut from 17 percent to 8.50 percent, customs duty per ton to be halved and additional customs duty will be abolished,” he added.
The planning minister recalled that the government took measures during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and it opened industries in the first phase to keep the economic cycle going.
