Reality bites

A PTI minister recently said that those who looted the country for 35 years deserved to be murdered. Such harsh and indecent comment should have been condemned. The truth is that what the minister said is not proved by facts. According to the World Bank data, during the 2008-2018 period, Pakistan’s GDP increased at an average rate of 3.6 percent per year – from $170 billion in 2008 to $231.2 billion in 2013 and $314.6 billion in 2018. The average annual increase was $12.23 billion during the 2008-2013 period and $16.67 billion during the 2013-2018 period.

Salaries and pension of government employees were increased by more than 10 percent every year from 2008 to 2013 and at the rate of 10, 7.5, 20, 10 and 10 percent during the 2013-2018 period. In the last two years, GDP declined by 11.6 percent from $314.6 billion in 2018 to $278 billion in 2019 and by another 0.38 percent in 2020. No increase was granted in salaries and pension of government employees. People’s purchasing power has been affected by rising inflation.

Abdul Majeed

Islamabad