Budgets in red

The sound of pens scratching on paper can be heard everywhere. In homes across the country people are desperately attempting to manage budgets. Whether they draw a salary or make money from business, the issue is the same; how to make ends meet when inflation marches relentlessly on and an apparently merciless government continues to demand more from people who have little to give. No matter what maths they do, whether they multiply, divide, add or subtract, the budgets people desperately attempt to draw up come up repeatedly in red. The addition of new taxes on natural gas means bills will rise by an average of Rs10. Nepra has approved a whopping tariff rise for the KESC, from Rs0.6 per unit to Rs.1.77 to compensate for the higher cost of fuel from June last year to March 2010 as a result of the fuel price increase. The additional costs will be added on to bills from now to December. Even though they see power for shorter and shorter period each day, consumers will be paying more for the utility. The threat of a further oil price rise also hovers. Meanwhile, the government is reported to be all set to revise the mechanism for setting petroleum prices which will then be fixed by oil-distributing companies with little intervention from the government through OGRA.

All this comes alongside post-budgetary increases in the costs of many items as a result of new tax imposition. Utility consumers can indeed expect still worse in July when a power tariff increase is likely to meet IMF conditionalities. We wonder if the government is, to any degree, aware of the immense burden these increases place on people. Do planners for a moment consider how they manage when subsidies are removed or prices increased without warning? Surely the primary duty of any government elected by voters is to safeguard the interests of citizens. It is of course easy to say the government needs more resources or that it has no options but to push up prices in the light of commitments made to the IMF. Already, people are paying the cost of these agreements. They are reaching a point where it's becoming almost impossible. The point to be made is that other options are available. Administrative expenses can be cut; so too can the salaries of ministers. The lavish lifestyle of those in power is visible every day. Many citizens ask, as they carefully consider how best to utilise hard-earned money, if it is really necessary to take large contingents on each foreign tour or use private planes to jet around the country. Indeed, our leaders should themselves announce cuts in their salaries in view of national hardship. There are also other potential strategies to deal with inflation. Analysts have put a number of these forward through their columns or in papers read out at seminars. The government needs to recognise that we face an emergency – a calamity as grave as that brought by any quake or cyclone. Measures on the same footing are required to tackle it. A conference of experts should be called, suggestions sought from the business community and a way found to stop the price hike which is threatening to strangulate people.