PoK: Retired govt employees protest, demands pension hike

Muzaffarabad [PoK], April 12 : Retired government employees in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's (PoK's) Muzaffarabad town took to the streets demanding a rise in pension and medical allowance as inflation has taken a heavy toll on their everyday lifestyle.

The protesters accused the government of insensitivity saying they were struggling to make ends meet. Protesters also demanded the government release all funds in a single tranche so that their troubles could be minimised.

The protesters chanted, "Sadda Haq aethe rakh" (Keep our Rights Keep here).

One of the protesters stated that he wants his demand to be fulfilled soon. And he also stated that the medical costs were going high so they wanted a rise in medical allowance as well.

The protester added that there are 16 diseases that are being treated for free in Pakistan, which should be done in PoK as well.

Meanwhile, the government employees also orgsed a rally in Pakistan's Swat to lodge their protest against the newly-introduced pension reforms.

The rally was held on the call of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance. The protesters said that the 35 per cent deduction from the pension in the name of reforms was not acceptable to them.

Rising food inflation has hit Pakists particularly hard this year, especially during the Ramzan. With weekly and monthly prices of essential commodities in Pakistan already at a record high, the finance ministry has warned that inflation will rise further, according to Dawn.

According to Pakistan's newspaper, the second-round effect of the policy decision had led to decisions like a rise in energy and fuel prices, the central bank's policy rate, and the rupee's depreciation to secure International Monetary Fund's funding.

"Inflation may further jack up as a result of a second-round effect," the finance ministry said in its Monthly Economic Update and Outlook, adding that the recent political and economic uncertainties were causing inflationary expectations upwards.

The short-term rate of inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) last week hit a record 46.65 per cent, while monthly inflation recorded by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 31.6 per cent in February the highest in six decades.

However, the SPI has slightly eased to 45.36 per cent in the latest reading released on Friday. The CPI reading for March is expected shortly, reported Dawn.

The ministry explained that inflation was expected to stay at an elevated level owing to market frictions caused by relative demand and supply gap of essential items, exchange rate depreciation and recent upward adjustment of administered prices of petrol and diesel.

The ministry also said that due to the lagged effect of floods, the production losses have not yet been fully recovered, especially those of major agricultural crops.

Moreover, the economic distress resulting from the delay of the stabilisation programme has exacerbated the economic uncertainty, due to which inflationary expectations have remained strong.

The Economic Adviser's Wing of the finance ministry also mentioned the ineffective policy measures and the haplessness of the authorities in containing the inflationary spiral, reported Dawn.

"Despite SBP's contractionary monetary policy, the inflationary expectations are not settling down," it said and also tried to attribute the challenge to Ramazan-oriented demand pressures.