Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Hamza Shehbaz has lashed out at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over its failure to control inflation in the country.
The PML-N leader, son of former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, said drew a comparison between the regimes of the PML-N and the ruling PTI. The PML-N lawmaker said the prices of basic utilities were far lower during the tenure of the PML-N as compared to the current prices.
“The peak inflation has devastated the middle class whose monthly budgets are shrinking ever since the PTI came into power,” he added.
“During the PML-N’s tenure (2013-18), the power price were Rs11 per unit, whereas one unit currently costs Rs24,” he said.
“The eggs per dozen cost Rs84 during the PML-N government while during the PTI government, people are paying Rs170 for a dozen eggs,” he said, adding that the price of flour increased from Rs32/kg to Rs80/kg in Naya Pakistan.
According to Hamza, there was a 100 per cent increase in the price of sugar. “It was being sold at Rs42/kg during the PML-N government, whereas now its price is Rs120.” Hamza Shehbaz said the price of edible oil increased from Rs142 to 290/litre during the rule of the PTI government.
The circular debt has also increased to Rs2700 billion from Rs1,036bn as per Hamza. He added that Pakistan owed $70bn in foreign debts when PML-N was in power, but now it owed $83bn.
The overall increase in the price of commodities has also pushed people into poverty, he said, adding that the poverty rate of Pakistan has increased from 3.9 per cent to 15 per cent in just two-and-half years of the PTI.
Earlier this week, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar admitted that the PTI government failed to control prices. The minister, however, had blamed the “middleman for price hikes who were taking advantage of the flawed monitoring system”.
