‘Eating less, travelling less’: How Pakistanis are coping with sky-high inflation

The worst part is that there seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel. Those in power keep repeating the same mistakes and the poor end up paying the price. Wara Irfan Published February 28, 2023 Updated 2 minutes ago Someone sleeps hungry tonight. Or at least tries to. It’s not really easy to sleep on an empty stomach. Or when your ears are ringing with the hunger-induced screams of your child. Or when you are worried sick about where you’d find the money to pay the utility bills, or for your child’s school fees or even a meal the next day. With weekly inflation surging above 40 per cent, millions of Pakistanis have found their purchasing power further eroded, with many struggling to cover even the most basic necessities. Meanwhile, those at the helm of power scramble to put in stop gap measures by imposing more taxes and blocking imports to shore up the country’s foreign reserves that have fallen to critical levels over the last few months. Monthly inflation rate from Jan 2022-Jan 2023 Inflation is more than statistics “We are solely reliant on God, we cannot make ends meet in this inflation,” said 55-year-old Imam Ali, who works as a security guard in Karachi’s FB Area. “If our children ask for something, we simply make excuses. If we eat one time, the second meal is hard to manage … we tell the children to just sleep.” Hailing from a small village near Nawabshah, Ali lost most of his livestock and crops in 2020 due to the floods, forcing him to come to Karachi to find a job. Ever since, he has been working as a security guard, earning a meagre Rs15,000 a month.