Miftah Ismail 'ashamed' over record-high inflation in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Friday said that he was ashamed over highest inflation during his tenure which has now broken a 47-year-old record after Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data highlighted inflation at 27.3 percent on year-on-year basis in August 2022, ARY NEWS reported.

Speaking at a discussion at the IBA, Miftah Ismail, however, defended his policies and said that if he has not taken the decisions, the country would have defaulted on its loan payments in two months.

“Look at Sri Lanka where petrol is now being sold at Rs3,000 and people are standing in long queues outside the pumps for it,” he said while sharing example of the South-Asian nation which has defaulted on its debt payments.

He admitted that it was huge setback for his party [PML-N], however, he had briefed Shehbaz Sharif before taking over the reins of the government that these measures would be needed to save the country from an imminent default.

“I asked him to prefer a caretaker government if he is not willing to take the difficult economic decisions,” the finance minister shared.

Inflation data 

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday announced an increase in inflation by 2.4 percent in August 2022 as compared to the last month, breaking a 47-year record of a hike in a month.

According to the PBS, the general inflation increased by 27.3 percent on year-on-year basis in August 2022 as compared to an increase of 24.9 in the previous month and 8.4 percent in August 2021.

On month-on-month basis, it increased by 2.4 percent in August 2022 as compared to an increase of 4.3 percent in the previous month and an increase of 0.6 percent in August 2021.