Karachi, January 4, 2025 – A leader from the Workers Federation State Bank of Pakistan has raised concerns about the accuracy of the inflation figures being presented by the government, claiming that they do not reflect the true economic conditions faced by the public.
Liaquat Ali Sahi, the Secretary General of the Democratic Workers Federation State Bank of Pakistan, stated in a recent statement that the reported lower inflation figures were based on data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), which he argued were misleading and far from the ground realities.
Sahi pointed out that the inflation figures presented by the PBS had never been properly debated or scrutinized in the National Assembly. He questioned the methodology behind the determination of these figures, particularly the composition of the item basket used to calculate inflation. According to him, the PBS included products in this basket that were not essential for the average worker, laborer, or common citizen. This, he claimed, was done intentionally to lower the inflation rate.
He further criticized the PBS officials for formulating these inflation numbers without consulting actual market conditions. “These officials are sitting in their offices and making inflation estimates without taking into account the real-life situation in the markets,” Sahi said.
Sahi also recalled that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the PBS adopted a similar approach to artificially reduce inflation figures. He noted that while inflation was reported at 40% at that time, the actual inflation faced by citizens was around 70%.
The Workers Federation leader emphasized that if inflation were to be calculated based solely on essential items such as food, clothing, health, education, transport, and shoes, it would still be alarmingly high. He called on the government to implement a transparent mechanism for determining inflation and bring PBS’s performance before the National Assembly for a proper debate.
Sahi further demanded that the government instruct PBS to release data from the past 15 years and provide a detailed explanation of how inflation readings are determined, to ensure greater accountability and transparency in the process.