LAHORE: The Government decision to raise prices of certain commodities has been taken to rationalise the whole price structure in the country, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said here today [April 8]. He was talking to newsmen at the Lahore airport. … The Prime Minister said the decision, though a hard and unpleasant one, had been taken in the interest of the country, in the interest of the national economy, and in the interest of the effort to control inflation.

Premier Bhutto said the Government had held numerous conferences to take a decision in the matter. I can assure you that if the decision had not been unavoidable it would not have been taken, he added. The Prime Minister hoped that this really was the final decision in order to bring about a rationalisation of the whole price structure. …

He said over the last three years with prices rising rapidly everywhere in the world we had also to increase the prices of these commodities. … He said this decision had been taken with the purpose of avoiding deficit financing where the whole structure would just burst. … He said there were signs that the economic situation would ease by the end of the current year.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2025