That the latest weekly review in POL prices will keep the inflationary spiral going is by now a truism, and thus the latest review, which took place on Sunday, is not really much of a surprise. True, the increase in the prices of diesel mean that the cost of transporting both goods and people will go up. This will in turn mean that the price of goods will go up. Allowing kerosene, used for cooking where gas is not supplied, is also unwise electorally. At the same time, allowing a very important input cost to go up just before the sowing of the national staple reflects a lack of wisdom that verges on the criminal. However, the insistence on a weekly review showed a more disturbing aspect, the government’s cavalier disregard of the National Assembly. Only on Thursday it had passed a resolution calling for an end to the weekly review, and a return to monthly reviews. The resolution did not even demand that the price hikes be reversed, merely that the government return a modicum of stability to POL prices. It must not be forgotten that in the recent past, POL prices used to be set for a year at a time, with any change being announced in the annual budget. This did not in itself create price stability, but it did make for stability in prices, because such an important input price was kept stable.
The loud claims of parliamentary supremacy emanating from the highest levels of government are falsified by the refusal to pay any attention to a parliamentary resolution. However, apart from this, the government should also consider the international consequences of this. It is apparently not enough for the Executive that it ignores the decisions of the Judiciary; now it must ignore the Legislature as well. The PPP should not ignore the fact that it was entrusted with the Executive because it won a majority in the National Assembly. To ignore it, as it has done, is especially unwise as the general election approaches.
It is also worth noting that the price increases made using the POL price increases as an excuse, are not rolled back with decreases in price. Though a monthly review, instead of the present weekly one, has not been introduced, it must be, and the prices themselves must be brought to a reasonable limit. If this government continues to brush aside Parliament like this, it will have no one else to blame.