BAFL 46.25 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (1.09%)
BIPL 20.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.15%)
BOP 5.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.93%)
CNERGY 4.61 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (1.32%)
DFML 16.61 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (4.01%)
DGKC 78.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-0.8%)
FABL 28.21 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (1.29%)
FCCL 20.07 Increased By ▲ 1.21 (6.42%)
FFL 9.14 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.78%)
GGL 12.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.16%)
HBL 111.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-0.35%)
HUBC 123.69 Increased By ▲ 1.49 (1.22%)
HUMNL 7.65 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KEL 3.27 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.93%)
LOTCHEM 28.30 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (1.14%)
MLCF 41.81 Decreased By ▼ -0.64 (-1.51%)
OGDC 115.39 Increased By ▲ 4.71 (4.26%)
PAEL 19.05 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.85%)
PIBTL 5.53 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (1.1%)
PIOC 112.85 Decreased By ▼ -2.45 (-2.12%)
PPL 100.04 Increased By ▲ 5.05 (5.32%)
PRL 25.64 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (1.06%)
SILK 1.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.9%)
SNGP 67.52 Increased By ▲ 3.02 (4.68%)
SSGC 12.54 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (2.2%)
TELE 8.46 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.83%)
TPLP 13.39 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TRG 85.46 Increased By ▲ 1.36 (1.62%)
UNITY 26.60 Increased By ▲ 0.75 (2.9%)
WTL 1.57 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (1.95%)
BR100 6,377 Increased By 82.2 (1.31%)
BR30 22,376 Increased By 439.3 (2%)
KSE100 62,493 Increased By 801.8 (1.3%)
KSE30 20,829 Increased By 274.3 (1.33%)

It was not very long ago that Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government would try its level best not to raise the prices of petroleum and products though it was bearing a loss of Rs 30 per litre on petrol and Rs 70 per liter on diesel.

According to him, no government has ever sold petrol in loss. Interestingly, however, the nation has seen not one but three hikes in the prices of petroleum and products in a matter of two months during the ongoing tenure of the present government.

In my view, however, the finance minister ought to have appeared realistic in relation to country’s state of economy, which is in tatters, to say the least. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had laid an economic landmine for its successor by not raising the prices of petroleum and products in accordance with the global market prices. It is, however, needless to say that the country is in the throes of a profound economic crisis.

It is said that Pakistan is one step from Sri Lanka which is now facing the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948. Not only is the island nation facing unprecedented levels of inflation, it is also witnessing near-depletion or complete depletion of foreign exchange reserves. Our situation is not much different from Sri Lanka’s.

Naseer Husain (Islamabad)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

Comments

Comments are closed.

Our situation is not much different from Sri Lanka’s?

Inter-bank: rupee registers 5th successive gain against US dollar

Open market: rupee gains further against US dollar

No crisis on election finances: Solangi

Imran Khan wants ‘ex-army general, US envoy’ to be summoned for cipher trial: lawyer

Suzuki Motor proposes purchase of minority shareholders’ stake at minimum Rs406 per share

PM Kakar calls for timely completion of work to unlock climate funds

Israel orders Gazans out of swathes of Khan Younis

Haris Rauf, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan get NOCs for BBL 9

Successful IMF review, stable monetary policy driving PSX: Ministry of Finance

Matco Foods sets up corn sugar plant in Karachi