KARACHI: Naureen Ahsan earns more than twice the average wage in Pakistan. Still, the school administrator says she has no choice but to homeschool her daughters and delay their London-board-certified final exams because she cannot afford their education.
According to Reuters, like most citizens in the nation of 220 million, Naureen Ahsan and her husband, who owns a vehicle servicing business, are struggling to cope with the surge in living costs triggered by the Pakistani government’s devaluing the rupee and removing subsidies to pave the way for a tranche of an International Monetary Fund bailout needed to stave off economic collapse.
Pakistan no stranger to economic issues
Pakistan is no stranger to economic issues. This is its fifth IMF bailout since 1997, but economists say the latest measures, which include taxes and fuel costs, are hurting educated professionals. Several say they are cutting down on necessities to make ends meet.
“We do not eat out any more,” Naureen Ahsan told Reuters. “We no longer buy meat, fish. I have cut down on tissue paper and detergent. We do not see friends, we do not give gifts. Occasionally, we scream at each other.”
The Pakistani government-mandated minimum wage is about Rs25,000. Still, with inflation at a record 31.5 per cent in February, its highest rate in nearly 50 years, many people who earn much more than that say their salaries don’t last the month.
Abhi Salary, Pakistan’s biggest fintech firms, which allows its 200,000 and so subscribers to withdraw wages in advance, says transactions have increased by more than a fifth monthly for the last three months. “Most citizens spend two-thirds of their money on groceries as they rush to stock up before prices increase again,” Abhi CEO Omair Ansari said.
Abid Suleri said, “Unfortunately the poor in Pakistan are left with nothing to lose,” an economic think tank at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute of Pakistan. “Educated professionals… find their purchasing power and savings eroded, and daily consumption either unaffordable and out of reach.”
