KARACHI – Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said the double-edged sword of a sharp rise in energy and food prices is hurting the people and business community.
Despite the clear instructions of the Prime Minister, the bureaucracy is unable to control the prices and due to poor governance and hardships of the masses are being increased by the passing of every day, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that hardships are making the lives of the masses very difficult which is increasing their anger and uneasiness.
Talking to the business community, Mian Zahid Hussain said that it has become difficult for the middle class which plays a pivotal role in the development of any country to maintain their quality of life.
If the situation continues like this, soon only the rich and the poor will be left in the country as there will be no middle-income group, he added.
He said that the people have not been able to spend on health, education, electricity, gas, and other essentials due to inflation which has increased the risks to the country’s future.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that rising unemployment has also led to an increase in crime rate as apart from the sharp rise in prices of flour, sugar, chicken, eggs, and meat, the price of cooking oil has risen by 88%, and the price of sugar by 83% while the prices of other commodities have also continued to rise.
He noted that top officials are blaming inflation on the global market, but the reality is that food prices in other food-importing countries, including India and Bangladesh, are much lower than in Pakistan.
Energy prices in many regional countries, including India and Bangladesh, are also lower than Pakistan’s in terms of per capita income.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the objectives of quiet devaluation of the rupee could not be achieved but it has increased the debt of the country by Rs. 2700 billion and resulted in runaway inflation.
