ISLAMABAD – As rupee lost over 20 percent of its value since the start of the year, Pakistanis are facing skyrocketing prices and are looking desperately for a sigh of relief from the government amid hard times.
A report by leading publication claimed that government employees can expect pay raise by up to 50 percent in the upcoming budget.
A report in Daily Jang claimed that Sharif-led government, in its final budget before going to elections, has decided to increase the salaries of public sector employees by up to 50 percent, as well as 30 increments in the pensions for retired government workers.
It said that no final decision has been made as of now as Finance Minister will finalise a strategy in this regard in upcoming meetings. The federal government is also considering to raise the monthly minimum wage of laborers to Rs40000 as people are struggling to pay for basic commodities.
Earlier, the government decided to give relief to people on petrol but International Monetary Fund restricted Pakistan from giving any subsidy without approval.
The global lender while giving a hard time to cash-strapped nation issued a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP), in which it made it clear that the Pakistani government will not provide any kind of additional subsidy without its prior approval.
Moreover, IMF wants Islamabad to further increase its interest rates maintaining that higher rates are crucial to fight inflation and lowering the country’s current account deficit.
Lately, Consumer Price Index (CPI) based monthly inflation skyrocketed to an all-time high of 36.4% on a year-over-year basis in April 2023 compared to 35.4% in the previous month and 13.4% in April 2022. This is the highest rate of inflation in South Asia.
