Prices in Pakistan still lower when compared with other countries: PM

MIANWALI: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Saturday said that inflation is an international phenomenon caused by COVID-19 related lockdowns and the prices in Pakistan are still lower when compared with other countries.

Addressing a big public gathering after inaugurating and laying foundation stone of several development projects including university in Mianwali, the prime minister said that inflation is a problem of the whole world including Pakistan. “Pakistan is still the cheapest country. The prices in Pakistan are still lower when compared with other countries,” he added. 

He said that the coronavirus related lockdowns had reduced trade and made things more expensive. “It is a difficult time but in three to four months inflation will come down. It is the highest inflation in the history of the US since 1982. He also assured that 30 per cent subsidy on flour, ghee and pulses for those earning less than Rs 50,000.

The premier also maintained that Ehsaas Rashan Program has also been launched to provide wheat flour, ghee and pulses to the underprivileged lot on thirty percent subsidized rates. He said Kamyab Pakistan program envisaging interest free loans of up to five hundred thousand rupees is also aimed at uplifting the weak segments of the society.

PM Khan will not disappoint the masses and this country will be transformed into a great nation for which it was created. He has emphatically stated that the present government will only take those decisions which are in the interest and welfare of the public.

Imran Khan said that there will be record development in backward areas of the country including Mianwali. Alluding to the ground breaking of Balksar-Mianwali-Muzaffargarh Road, the Prime Minister said the project will be completed in one and a half years.

“We are ready for dialogue with everybody including those in Balochistan and Tribal districts but there will be no reconciliation with those who plundered the national exchequer and laundered the money abroad,” he said. 

PM Imran Khan said that every society puts thieves in jails and does not deal with them. “Without the rule of law and the system of humanity there would be no development. Even after independence we could not make independent decisions. Soon Pakistan will stand on its own feet and make its own decisions.”

He also announced that the federal, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments will award scholarships to six point two million youth to pursue higher education, adding that an amount of forty seven billion rupees will be spent on it.

The prime minister further mentioned that the entire population of Punjab will be provided with health cards by March next year under which each household will be eligible to get medical treatment worth one million rupees annually.