IMF programmes led to price hikes in Pakistan, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Wednesday was informed that the prices of electricity and gas have increased due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes, leading to price hikes during the last five years, ARY News reported.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in its report submitted to the National Assembly maintained that the federal government raised the gas rate by 319 percent in February 2024 and by 520 percent in November 2023.

Similarly, electricity prices were raised by 35 percent in November 2023 and 75 percent in February 2024. According to the report, the total increase in inflation has been exacerbated by the historically high rates of gas and electricity.

Meanwhile, the prices of essential commodities have increased significantly over the past five years. It added that the price of sugar increased by 53.5 percent, while palm oil prices have risen by 61percent during the same period.

Furthermore, the prices of soybean oil, wheat, and crude oil have increased by 35percent over the past five years.

Earlier on December 6, Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance unveiled ambitious plans to further control the price hikes and bringing down the country’s inflation rate to 7 percent by 2027.

According to the ministry’s report, the inflation rate is expected to decrease over the next three years.

The report projects that the inflation rate will decrease from 23.4 to 12 percent in 2025, and then further to 7.5 percent in 2026. By 2027, the inflation rate is expected to be reduced to 7 percent.

In addition to reducing inflation, the ministry also projects that the country’s economic growth rate will increase from 3.6 to 5.5 percent over the next three years. The primary balance is expected to improve from 1.02 to 0.5 percent of the economy.