Pakistan economy: Price spikes, political woes hit millions

BBC News:

Daily-wage labourer Asif Maseeh wakes up each day wondering how he will feed his family of seven.

“We just pray to God that we’ll find a way to eat tomorrow,” Mr Maseeh told the BBC.

The 45-year-old is among an estimated 700,000 workers who have lost their jobs in recent years, following the closure of about 1,600 clothing factories in crisis-hit Pakistan. This amounts to a third of the country’s textile factories, which contribute to 60% of the country’s total export earnings.

Mr Maseeh started doing manual work and driving an autorickshaw after he was laid off earlier this year from his job at a factory that made clothes for global fashion brands.

Sitting in a dimly lit one-room apartment in the industrial area of Youhanabad in Lahore, Mr Maseeh and his wife Shamim Asif described how the escalating cost of living is impacting them and their five children. The couple work extra-long hours to feed their three daughters and two sons, none of whom go to school.

“We used to somehow manage our daily expenses within 500 Pakistani rupees (£1.40; $1.75) a day. Now things have changed. To cook just one meal, we need 1,500 rupees,” Mr Maseeh said.

His wife added: “Our earnings are not enough even to provide a good meal. How can we afford to send our children to school?”

Mr Maseeh is just one of millions hit by Pakistan’s ongoing economic crisis, as the country receives yet another bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – the 23rd since 1958. Last month, interim finance minister Shamshad Akhtar even raised the prospect of seeking an additional IMF loan due to the “fragile” economy, Bloomberg reported.

And there is more uncertainty on the horizon, with soaring inflation, energy prices due to increase further in January and a general election looming in February.

Industrialists in Karachi, a transport hub and Pakistan’s largest city, have even threatened to shut down production completely on 4 December, unless the government reverses unprecedented gas tariff hikes.

Many Pakistanis have already been forced to seek additional income, following sharp increases in the prices of energy and other essential commodities. This is partly a consequence of the IMF’s lending conditions, which led the government to phase out energy subsidies.