The Governor of the State Bank stated in a press conference af­ter the agricultural policy commit­tee meeting on Monday that the inflation rate is estimated to be 20 to 22 percent during the current financial year. He mentioned that the inflation rate would decrease in the coming months.

However, this is not certain due to adverse weather conditions and fluctuations in global commodi­ty prices. Additional taxes and an increase in electricity prices may cause inflation to rise in the up­coming months.

Nonetheless, in light of the Ag­ricultural Policy Committee’s re­view, he also highlighted sever­al positive changes, including the elimination of economic uncer­tainty and major strides in ad­dressing financial challenges in the external sector. Moreover, due to better agricultural crops, com­modity prices are also expected to decrease. The governor’s claim regarding improvements in these areas is undoubtedly supported by the facts. Clear evidence of the end of uncertainty and the recov­ery of investor confidence is evi­dent in the booming stock mar­ket, as demonstrated by the KSE 100 index surpassing 48,000 af­ter two years on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

However, the real problem for the vast majority of the coun­try is inflation, which has made their lives difficult. To control this, it is necessary to curb elec­tricity theft instead of increasing the price of electricity, as report­ed by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, which has reached 500 billion rupees. Ad­ditionally, providing easy loans from banks to people for the in­stallation of solar systems could prove beneficial. All privileges, such as free electricity, gas, and petrol, should be withdrawn from the privileged classes. The num­ber of federal and provincial min­isters should be limited, and all other unnecessary government expenses should be stopped.

MUHAMMAD AMIN,

Kech.