In Pakistan, which is on the verge of bankruptcy, the pressure of taxes on the people of the country who are already facing skyrocketing inflation, has been increased. This pressure has been increased by the Shahbaz Shareef government after it introduced a mini-budget, in order to get a cheap loan from the IMF. As a result, the price of petrol in the country has gone up by 22.20 Rupees to 272 Pakistani Rupees per litre, high-speed diesel now costs 280 Pakistani Rupees, light-diesel oil is priced at 196.68 Pakistani Rupees, and kerosene oil is priced at 202.73 Pakistani Rupees per litre.
All hopes of the sinking economy of Pakistan are now dependent on the 1.1 billion dollar loan from the IMF, which the latter has currently refused to give to the country. In a matter of 16 days, the price of petrol has gone up by 57 Rupees, and that of diesel by 62 Rupees. The economic condition of Pakistan is even worse than Afghanistan. Under the Taliban regime, 89 Afghanis make 1 USD, but more than 264 Pakistani Rupees make 1 USD. The difference between the currencies of both the countries has become more than 3 times.
The inflation rate in Pakistan is already 27%, and Moody’s has estimated that it can go beyond 33% in the first quarter of 2023. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves are almost empty, due to which imports have almost stopped completely. Food crisis is also augmenting, and with the increase in the taxes after the mini-budget, all commodities ranging from laptops, LED TV, LCD TV, smartphones, iPad, juicer, blender, car shampoo, and car polishing cream will get costlier.
