QUOTE(crazyinsane105 @ Sep 26 2007, 12:11 PM)

I'm very interested about the current situation with regards to poverty reduction since Musharraf came to power. Also, I want to know a bit more about inflation and how it is being dealt with in Pakistan. Thank you so much brother for opening up this thread.

INFLATION Inflation results in inefficient resource allocation and hence reduces potential economic growth and it is an ongoing problem pretty much everywhere since it hardly remains constant.
In the context of Pakistan, Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined from 9.0 percent to a period-average of 8.0 percent in July-April 2005-06. This development with regard to prices is also reflected in the other measures of inflation used in Pakistan, namely core inflation, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) as well as the Sensitive Price Index (SPI).
Four different price indices are published in Pakistan: the consumer price index (CPI), the wholesale price index (WPI), the sensitive price index (SPI) and the GDP deflator. The CPI covers the retail prices of 375 items in 35 major cities and reflects roughly the cost of living in the urban areas. The WPI is used to measure the price movement of selected items in the primary and wholesale markets. The items covered under the WPI are those which are offered in lots for sale. The WPI covers the wholesale price of 106 major items prevailing in the city of origin of the commodities. The SPI covers prices of 53 essential items consumed by those households whose monthly income ranges from Rs.3000 to Rs.12000 per month.
In Pakistan, the main focus is placed on the CPI as a measure of inflation as it is more representative with a wider coverage of 375 items in 71 markets of 35 cities around the country.The overall inflation averaged at 9.3 percent in the fiscal year 2004-05 and the last fiscal year ended with an inflation rate of 8.7 percent in June 2005. Keeping in view the fact that inflation, once reached at high level, is difficult to bring it down to a low level in a short period of time. Accordingly, the government had set the average inflation target of 8 percent for the fiscal year 2005-06. The current fiscal year, however, started with an inflation rate of 9.0 percent in July 2005 but continued to decelerate, reaching at 6.2 percent in April 2006: the lowest in the last 23 months. Food inflation was closed to 9.7 percent at the beginning of the current fiscal year but decelerated sharply to 3.6 percent in April 2006- the lowest in the last 31 months. The measure taken by the Government, particularly since April 2005, when overall inflation reached 93 months high at 11.1 percent (the last-time inflation was at this level in July 1997) and food inflation peaked at 15.7 percent in April 2005 (last-time it was at 15.7 percent in May 1994),
yielded handsome dividend in the shape of overall inflation decelerating to 6.2 percent and food inflation to 3.6 percent in April 2006. Non-food inflation averaged 7.1 percent in 2004-05, jumped sharply over the preceding year (3.6% in 2003-04). The current fiscal year (2005-06) started with non-food inflation at 8.5 percent in July 2005. By April 2006—in ten months time, it has decelerated marginally at 8.0 percent.It is important to note that with the exception of house rent, energy and transport all other sub-indices of the CPI have registered nominal increases.
In other words, inflation of these sub-indices remained under control. It would be safe to argue that this year's inflation was largely driven by food, energy, transport and house rent. While the government has little control on energy prices and the attendant rise in transport charges, this year's inflation remained relatively high for sure, at a slower pace, primarily on account of food and house rent.
Inflation by Income GroupPrice hike affects various sections of the society differently. In most cases, the lower income group of society becomes victim of the severity of inflation on account of their erosion of purchasing power. To assess the impact of inflation across all income classes, the CPI is also computed for four income group with income limits ranging from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 12,000 per month. The incidence of inflationary pressure on various income Groups during July-April. A cursory look is sufficient to see that as compared to last years, inflation for all the four income groups are lower in the current fiscal year.
Furthermore, the highest inflation at 8.5 percent is witnessed for the highest income group while rest of the three income groups faced almost the same inflation rate at 7.5 percent Wholesale Price Index (WPI)During the first ten months (July-April) of the fiscal year 2005-06 inflation, as measured by changes in WPI, picked up to 10.3 percent as against 6.9 percent in the same period last year. Like in the case of CPI based inflation, food component of the WPI registered decline at 7.2 percent as against 11.0 percent in the same period last year. The non-food component of the WPI registered sharp increase to 12.6 percent as against 4.1 percent last year. Fuel and Lighting component of the WPI rose sharply at 28.0 percent as against 14.6 percent in the same period last year. Manufactures and building material components exhibited smaller increases.
Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)The sensitive price indicator consists of 53 essential items. During July-April 2005-06, SPI recorded an increase of 6.7 percent as against 12.0 percent in the same period last year. With 33 food items, the SPI is heavily weighted in favour of food items which have a weight of 68.2 percent followed by utility items (15.4%), non-food items (10.6%) and transport (5.8%). Since the beginning of the current fiscal year and until April 2006, the prices of some essential commodities registered sharp increase while few of them registered decline and also some of them registered nominal increases. The items which have registered sharp increase include Moong, Mash and Gram pulses, beef, mutton and sugar. The items registered sharp decline include chicken, eggs, and red chillies. Minor reduction is also witnessed in the prices of wheat, masur pulse, rice Irri, and cooking oil. Most importantly, the price of wheat flour remained almost unchanged during the last 10 months
Price Stabilization MeasuresIn order to keep the prices of essential commodities under control, the government has been taking various measures throughout the year. These measures include liberal import regime for food items including zero rating of the imports of these commodities. The government has been expanding the supply of essential items such as sugar and wheat flour through the outlets of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC). Furthermore, in order to provide relief to the low and fixed income groups, the government has been selling wheat flour and sugar through the outlets of the USC at much lower prices than the market. In order to augment supplies of essential commodities at shortest possible time and at lower freight charges, the government has allowed the import of various items through land routes from neighbouring countries. The role of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has been enhanced. The TCP is very active in importing sugar from around the world to build strategic reserves with a view to shielding the consumers from the extra-market forces. The TCP has also been asked to import various kinds of pulses to meet the domestic consumption requirements and stabilize their prices in the country. The specific measures taken by the government during the year include:-
- The government has been selling wheat flour and sugar at Rs. 11.5 per kg and Rs.27.5 per kg, respectively through the USC as well as through its outlets in weekly bazaars and through mobile units. The USCs has hired 59 vehicles to sell wheat flour and sugar to the far flung areas of Pakistan. The government has been selling 3.0 million bags of 10 kg wheat flour as well as 32,000 metric tons sugar through the outlets of the USCs per month. The people of Pakistan are getting wheat flour and sugar at a much cheaper rate than the markets.
- The government has also allowed duty free imports of wheat and wheat flour, sugar and other essential consumer items such as live animals, beef, mutton, Onion, Tomato, Potato, Garlic etc. with a view to augment their supplies and reduce their prices.
- Besides these steps, a Prime Minister's Committee has been constituted to monitor the price situation in the country by keeping a watch on the supply and demand conditions. The Committee has to keep a watch on the price level of various commodities in the country through a proper system of monitoring on daily basis. In addition to this a close vigilance is kept on unusual rise in prices through weekly meetings of the Kitchen Items Committee, now called the Sensitive Items Price Committee (SIPC) and through the fortnightly meetings of the ECC of the Cabinet to ensure price stability in the country.
Source : Figures taken from State Bank of Pakistan.