Pak: Prices of essential items out of reach of common man, Shehbaz govt at fault

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 7 : It's been 45 days since the Shehbaz Sharif government came to power in Pakistan, the daily essentials are getting costly and have become out of reach of the common man due to recent hikes in petrol prices and power tariff, a local media report stated.
"It is time the government started paying serious attention to the fact that a weakening economy is taking a serious toll on people's daily life or else true to the old adage "hungry man is an angry man," the media report added, referring to continuing price and tariff rise that is critically affecting the day-to-day life of the people in the country.
Contrary to expectations from the new government, the economy of Pakistan continues to plunge due to an unstable political setup.
Federal and provincial governments should control the price-rise of essential commodities in addition to the rising fares of public transportation.
Local media underlined it would be better for the Shehbaz government to take cognizance of the situation of the common man before it is too late, the report said, explaining that Pakistan has been reeling under heavy economic turmoil at present and by increasing petroleum prices, the Pakistan government hopes to dodge sovereign default, salvage the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal and leverage the support of multilateral financial institutions and friendly nations to stabilise the economy.
The authorities, in addition, should also see to it that minimum wages, as announced by PM Shehbaz, are given to labourers.
Shehbaz government authorities might be making tall claims that it would provide flour, sugar, oil and other essentials at subsidized prices, but poor sections have not received them at subsidized prices, the report added.
But, the minimum wages, as announced by PM Shehbaz are not given to labourers, it added.
The poor are literally reduced to being the picture of pity looking up to authorities with high hopes that their big claims are implemented too as they continue to live a very tough day-to-day life.
The details of Pakistan's profile on the CFR Index website show Pakistan's current account at -4.5pc of GDP, external debt at 42pc of GDP, short term debt and current account at 107 pc of revenues, government's debt at 68 pc of GDP, political instability index at -1.9 and credit default swap spread at 824 basis points.
On the CFR Index, the score of India is 1 and Bangladesh is 3. Sovereign risk implies that a government will default on its binding liabilities or impose foreign exchange regulations that hurt foreign exchange contract values.