Why living costs still hurt in Pakistan |
By Sardar Khan Niazi
Pakistanis have been told repeatedly, that inflation has eased and economic recovery is on the horizon. Yet for millions of families the daily experience is emphatically different: the struggle to put food on the table, to pay utility bills, and to make ends meet persists. The headline numbers may sometimes offer comfort, but the real cost of living paints a grimmer picture. Prices of essentials remain high. Despite periodic declines in headline inflation, the cost of essential items continues to dominate household budgets. Recent data show that year-on-year price levels for staple food, housing, energy, and fuel remain elevated — prices that families cannot avoid. For example, grocery prices and utility costs have been growing faster than many average incomes. For households already spending a large share of income on basics, even modest price increases can be debilitating. In a recent economic survey, average expenses on food rose by over one-third, and energy costs climbed similarly — much faster than income growth. Wages and incomes lag behind costs. One of the most painful ironies of Pakistan’s cost-of-living crisis is that incomes have not kept pace with expenses. While official data show some increase in household earnings over recent years, the rapid rise in spending on essentials has outstripped these gains. The result: real purchasing power has declined for many middle-and lower-income families. For those in the informal economy — daily wage earners, small shopkeepers, blue-collar workers — stagnant wages mean that food, fuel, and utility bills absorb an ever-larger chunk of their already limited income. Energy and utility costs bite hard. Gas and electricity costs — necessities for cooking, heating, lighting, and running businesses — have been climbing sharply. Government decisions to increase energy tariffs, including a 50 per cent rise in gas charges to meet conditions attached to international financial agreements, have pushed utility bills........