LETTER: This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Outlook for inflation" carried by the newspaper recently. The writer, noted economist Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha, has argued, among other things, that "high double-digit rates of inflation are being observed in imported food items like pulses, vegetable ghee and spices. Overall, the contribution to inflation in June 2020 of the rise in prices of non-perishable food items is over 52 percent. This pressure on the CPI is likely to persist in coming months."

The foregoing clearly tells us that inflation still constitutes a big challenge for the poor in particular. As point out by Dr Pasha that "the extremely worrying aspect of the current inflation in the country is that since it is concentrated in food prices it is having a disproportionate impact on the cost of living of the poorer households" the government is therefore required to look at this troublesome aspect of inflation with a view to arresting its rise. Any complacency in this regard can lead to social unrest in the midst of woeful economic slowdown caused, among other factors, by cornovirus spread. I fully endorse Dr Pasha's assessment about the prospects of inflation as, according to him, "the expectations about the future rate of inflation have been heightened by the unprecedented hike in the prices of petroleum products two [two weeks] ago".

SAMINA KHAN (KARACHI)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020