ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has recorded 16 deaths in stampedes occurred atdifferent points since the government has started free distribution offlour bags as consumer price inflation has surged to all-time high level.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, in its report, said: “CPI inflationGeneral, increased to 35.4% on year-on-year basis in Mar 2023 as comparedto an increase of 31.5% in the previous month and 12.7% in Mar 2022”.
On month-on-month basis, it increased to 3.7% in March 2023 as compared toan increase of 4.3% in the previous month and an increase of 0.8% in March2022, it said, adding that prices of food, beverages and transport surgedby up to 50 per cent.
It is highest even inflation on year-on-year basis recorded by the bureausince it started maintain the record of monthly inflation in the 1970s.
Annual food inflation in March was recorded as 47.1 percent and 50.2percent for urban and rural areas respectively, according to the PBS. Coreinflation, which is based on food and energy prices, stood at 18.6 percentin urban areas and 23.1 percent in rural areas.
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In order to provide relief to masses, the government has set up flourdistribution points across the country. Thousands of people throng to thesecentres to get flour bags.
At least 16 people, including five women and three children, have losttheir lives in stampedes at such points in recent days while thousands ofbags have been looted from trucks.
The South Asian country is reeling from an economic crisis with disturbedbalance of payments and shrinking forex reserves. It has taken severalmeasures, which caused inflation in the country, to revive the stillpending IMF load programme.
