Fuel price hike adds to Ramazan inflation burden

• Public anger grows over timing, scale of increase in petrol, diesel rates• Daily-wage earners, gig workers take the brunt• Transport fares surge; vegetable and fruit prices jump within hours• Transporters say fare hike unavoidable• Fuel use drops as people cut travel

LAHORE / PESHA­WAR / KARACHI: The sharp Rs55 per litre increase in fuel prices is sending ripple effects across the country, raising transportation costs, driving up food prices and putting additional burden on households already grappling with traditional inflation during the holy month of Ramazan.

“It was the last thing Pakistanis needed and the government delivered it mercilessly,” said one of the several respondents from different social strata whom Dawn spoke to on Wednesday.

“Life itself is beginning to bite now, as making both ends meet has become an almost impossible struggle,” he added.

The resentment is not limited to consumers. Traders and professionals say the government’s handling of the increase has deepened public frustration.

“The manner of the hike was even cruel,” said Anees Ahmad Khan, a trader from Lahore. “In the morning, federal ministers were saying Pakistan was safe for now as it had around a month’s stock, meaning international prices would not affect consumers immediately,” he said.

Economists say the impact of higher fuel prices rarely remains confined to petrol pumps and quickly spreads across the economy.

“Conventional economics tells us that oil price hikes trigger a chain reaction across the economy,” Prof Kamran Butt said.

“They increase transportation costs, push up the prices of daily-use commodities and food items, raise the overall cost of living, reduce purchasing power, increase poverty and unemployment, slow economic activity and eventually fuel public discontent as quality of life deteriorates,” he explained.

“One wonders what the government seeks to achieve through such social cruelty. If IMF conditionalities are the only reason, then the condition of Pakistanis should also have been factored in,” he said.

Particularly for daily wage earners and gig workers, the economic theory translates into an immediate hit to already fragile incomes.

“In 12 hours of work a day, I hardly make Rs1,000 delivering food to households,” said Muhammad Ramzan, a motorcyclist working for an international food chain. “My daily petrol consumption is about three litres, which means the recent increase will cost me another Rs165, which is about 16.5 per cent of........

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