LAHORE  -   Terming inflation a serious threat to economy, All Pakistan Business Forum has urged the government to come up with out-of-the-box solution to expedite economic activities in the country.

APBF president Syed Maaz Mahmood lamented that regular increase in oil, gas, power rates and rupee devaluation was posing threat to all sectors besides making life of common man miserable. He said that inflation measured through consumer price index (CPI) surged to 9.4 percent last month. Over the past three months, he said, prices of fresh vegetables, fruits and meat have increased while average inflation during the July-March period rose by 6.79 percent on a yearly basis.

The most dominating push to inflation came from non-food-non-energy (core inflation) component that typically represents the underlying demand pressures on the economy. The core inflation, measured by excluding volatile food and energy prices, was recorded at 8.5 percent year-on-year. It has been steadily rising for a couple of months despite tightening of the monetary policy.

He said that International Monetary Fund assistance would bring a fresh wave of price-hike. He said the people would not benefit from the IMF loan as the lavish spending has been continuing. He said that after hike in fuel prices, the National Electronic Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) approved increase of 81 paisas per unit on the price of electricity last month.

“The government is planning to increase electricity rates by Rs3.26 per unit in coming months to meet revenue requirements of power distribution companies”, he said, adding, the government has already increased electricity tariff by 33 percent or Rs1.20 per unit after coming into power.