Islamabad: Under the Imran Khan government, inflation in Pakistan has reached the highest level in the past 70 years, which has led to protests by the opposition parties and the common man, local media reported.
The inflation in the country broke the record of 70 years in the last three years, with food prices doubling, while the prices of ghee, oil, sugar, flour and poultry have reached high levels, reported The News International.
Citing the Federal Bureau of Statistics, it said that from October 2018 to October 2021, electricity rates have increased by 57pc from Rs 4.06 per unit to at least Rs 6.38 per unit.
Further, the publication stated that by the first quarter of October, the price of 11.67 kg cylinder of LPG had gone up by 51 per cent from Rs 1,536 to Rs 2,322. Similarly, the price of petrol had gone up by 49 per cent in three years. The price of petrol has gone up from Rs 93.80 per litre to Rs 138.73 per litre.
The highest surge was recorded in the price of food items such as ghee, oil and others. The price of ghee increased by 108 per cent to Rs. 356 per kg.
The price of sugar increased by 83 per cent in 3 years and the price of sugar sold at Rs. 54 per kg has exceeded Rs. 100.
Prices of pulses increased by 60 to 76 per cent, mash pulses by Rs 243, peanuts by Rs 162, lentils by Rs 180 per kg and gram pulses by 23 per cent to Rs 145 per kg, according to The News International.
The opposition parties and people in Pakistan took to the streets against rising inflation in recent days, criticising the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) led government over the failure of its economic policies.
Lashing out at the Imran Khan government over rising inflation, economic catastrophe, unemployment and other issues, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday stressed that the current government needs a complete holiday and has asked the people to get out of their homes to participate in nationwide protests against the “tyrannical” government to give a final push to the “falling walls”.
“The country is paying the price for inflation, economic devastation and unemployment and the government has no realisation that it is not only the poor but even those holding white-collar jobs that have been crushed by it,” PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday.