Bearing the brunt of reforms

The price of 250ml packaged milk has gone up from Rs75 to Rs95 and that of a one litre from Rs295 to Rs360. Welcome to the new world of high inflation! The government has set an inflation target of 12 per cent for this fiscal year. But skyrocketing of prices from the beginning of the year from July 1 indicates that meeting this target would be difficult. In the last fiscal year, consumer inflation averaged 23.4pc thanks to low economic growth and the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) tight monetary policy. In June, the SBP eased interest rates from 22pc to 20.5pc, but it may have to wait months before further easing. Energy price hikes took effect in June, with further planned increases from July. The recent rise in petrol prices and possible hikes in the future due to the imposition of a petroleum levy would make it difficult to curtail rising prices.