RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) president has expressed his concern over rising inflation in the country.

They termed drastic fall in the rupees as the most immediate reason for the spike in the inflation.

Inflation has forced majority of population to spend almost their entire income for the very basic necessities of survival like food, clothing and shelter, said Saqib Rafiq, President of Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).

Inflation affects the lower segment of the society which stands more than 70pc of the total population of the country, he added.

In a statement, RCCI President said that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on a monthly basis, along with ‘Whole-sale Price Index’ (WPI) and the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) on weekly basis have increased manifold.

While quoting the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data, he said that the weekly inflation, measured by SPI, posted an increase of 32.57 per cent for the combined income group on a year-on-year basis ending Jan 26 due to a massive surge in prices of both food and non-food items, especially vegetables like onions.

The government should concentrate on economic reforms besides, fair policy formulation, regulatory realignments and their implementation, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2023