This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed “Some important economic policy questions” published by the newspaper on last Friday. That the writer, Dr. Omer Javed, is prolific insofar as the field of economics and finance is concerned is a fact. In my view, he writes with conviction; in fact genuine conviction. Armed with the required data and research, he always presents plausible arguments to highlight policy weaknesses and strengths alike. Unfortunately, however, our policymakers seem to be unaware of what he has been saying over the years in order to help arrest the economic slide in the country.

For instance, in his last contribution to the newspaper, Dr Javed raised a question for our policymakers, from the outset that “The first important policy question facing policymakers is how much role aggregate demand plays in determining inflation? This needs a clear presentation of analysis by policymakers.” In my view, the current government and the one that it succeeded in April last year did little or nothing to deal with the challenge of rising inflation in country. The last statistics presented by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) show that the Sensitive Price Index-based inflation for the week ended on Dec 21 2023 increased by a whopping 42.60 percent on a year-on-year basis mainly due to big increases in the prices of gas charges, wheat flour, and sugar. This is about time the government did something meaningful to tame inflation because its ascendency has woefully added to the common man’s economic woes in the country.

Nahid Mirza,

Karachi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023