The Sensitive Price Index has gone up, 2.4 percent in the week ending Thursday, which shows that the government’s efforts to control inflation have not worked. Another element which is adding disquiet to the man in the street is the disappearance of sugar from the utility stores, which is only available to consumers ready to pay a premium of Rs 30-35 per kilo extra. If the OGRA recommendation of a petrol price increase of Rs 20.70 per litre is given full effect, the ordinary consumer will be pushed against the wall. The raging inflation shows no sign of coming under control. The government may have weathered the recent wheat shortage, but the sugar shortage has been caused by the PTI’s government’s own decisions. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initial promise to pursue the mafias causing the shortages have petered out into the current shortages, which depend on imports to bring them to an end.
One of the factors responsible for the government’s failure to control prices is the feeling of impunity it is giving by its inaction. Apart from those within its ranks who benefited from poor decision-making, none of the officials responsible for the present pass has even been transferred out. The implication is that it is not their fault, which then raises the inevitable question of who is actually responsible.
The government cannot merely hope that time will solve the problem. It is not merely a blip which will correct itself. There is a broad swathe of commodities whose prices are rising, or which are disappearing from the market. Study after study has shown that the worst thing for an economy is inflation, and study after study has shown that this is the phenomenon most heavily punished at the hustings. One reason for this is that inflation is particularly harsh on those who depend on a salary, and the salaried are also those likeliest to seek to make a change by voting. The PTI should remember that apart from direct involvement by the sugar barons and wheat monopolists in its ranks, the devaluations it carried out to satisfy the IMF also contributed significantly. The price may well be electoral defeat.
