Price surge in Pak galvanises opposition's plan to bring no-confidence vote against Imran Khan

The recent surge in prices in Pakistan has galvanised the opposition's plan to bring no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The sharp increase in the food prices in Pakistan has again pushed the inflation up, forcing people to face difficulties amid multiple economic challenges faced by the country.

It comes after Pakistan Democratic Movement chief had announced that the alliance has unanimously decided to move a no-confidence motion against the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government led by Khan.

However, he had also said, "We will first do our homework, so we cannot talk about the definite timeframe for this move."

Inflation measured through the Sensitive Price Index</a> (SPI) posted an increase of 0.08 per cent for the week driven by a sharp increase in the prices of essential food and non-food items, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed.

In recent months, the highest weekly inflation</a> jump was recorded last November with rise of 1.81 per cent.

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The overall increase was mainly due to an increase of 5.23 per cent in potato price, followed by chicken 4.45 per cent, bananas 2.56 per cent, onions 2.12 per cent, pulse masoor 1.55 per cent, pulse gram 1.46 per cent and pulse mash 1.44 per cent. In non-food items, price of diesel and salt increased by 2.75 per cent each and petrol 2.68 per cent, according to Dawn.

Pakistan's trade deficit surged due to the rise in imports. The country's trade deficit has surged to $24.79 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year, mainly on the back of a 63 per cent year-on-year increase in imports.

Data for the July-December period showed that imports jumped to USD 39.91 bn from USD 24.47 bn a year ago. In contrast, exports during July-December also grew 25 per cent to USD 15.13bn compared to the year-ago period, reported Dawn.

Opposition parties like Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the allies of Imran Khan, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) are setting aside their differences to ouster 'Kaptaan' Imran Khan.

(With inputs from agencies)