LAHORE, May 22: Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said that economic conditions are deteriorating rapidly after the PML-Q government but the rulers are not making any serious effort to remedy the situation.

This he claimed while addressing a meeting of the Punjab PML-Q office bearers and MPAs here on Thursday.

The former chief minister said that Pakistan had the highest inflation rate in the region due to political instability.

He said the rupee was being devalued against the dollar continuously and the trade deficit was on the increase due to fall in foreign investment and industrial production on account of unprecedented power loadshedding.

Instead of solving the problems being faced by the people, he said, the rulers were busy in horse trading.

Mr Elahi, who is also the Punjab PML-Q president, said that economic experts had attributed the high inflation rate in Pakistan to unrealistic fiscal policies and unchecked hoarding during the tenure of caretaker regime and afterwards.

He said the present regime was misleading the nation by attributing inflation and other economic woes to international factors.

The PML-Q, he said, had also run the government under similar circumstances, but it had ensured that minimum impact of increase in world oil and food prices was transferred to the people.

The opposition leader said the rupee had been devalued by about 12 per cent after the exit of the PML-Q regime.

He said billions of rupees had been withdrawn from the stock exchange and mutual funds, trade deficit was increasing, foreign exchange reserves were depleting and foreign direct investment was falling.

Prices of flour, ghee and other essential commodities had gone beyond the reach of the poor, he said.

Mr Elahi alleged that International agencies had downgraded the credit rating of Pakistan due to poor economic management.

He called upon the party leaders and workers to remain in contact with the people and help solve their problems. They should also ask the rulers to honour their promises made during the election campaign.

The opposition leader said the people had started realizing that they had been led up the garden path by the present rulers.