Inflation at 50-yr high in Pakistan

Pakistan’s year-on-year inflation hit 35.37 per cent in March -- the highest in nearly five decades -- as the government scrambled to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions to unlock a desperately needed bailout.

Month-on-month inflation was 3.72 per cent, according to government data released Saturday, while the average inflation rate for the past year was 27.26 per cent.

Years of financial mismanagement and political instability have pushed Pakistan’s economy to the brink of collapse, exacerbated by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that submerged a third of the country

in 2022.

The country needs billions of dollars of financing to service existing debt, while foreign exchange reserves have dwindled and the rupee is in freefall.