Pakistan continues to remain under a tight grip of economic instability and has been counted among the countries facing the severe consequences of surging prices, stated a United Nations Development Program report published Thursday.
“Unprecedented price surges mean that for many people across the world, the food that they could afford yesterday is no longer attainable today,” said UNDP head Achim Steiner, adding that among the countries facing the most severe consequences of surging prices, according to the report, are Armenia, Uzbekistan, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Haiti, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Yemen.
Increasing global food and energy prices have forced 71 million people slip into poverty in the world’s poorest countries, Business recorder stated citing the United Nations Development Program report, stating further that out of 159 countries examined, the situation was found to be most critical in the Balkans, the Caspian Sea region and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Sahel.
As per the report, the price surges have been a consequence of the war in Ukraine resulting in a dip in cost-of-living millions of people tipped into poverty.
To address the growing issue, the UNDP said “targeted cash transfers to households are more equitable and more cost-effective than blanket energy subsidies,” but the UN agency added that governments will “need support from the multilateral system to make ends meet.”
The UNDP also warned in its report that as central banks raise interest rates to tackle inflation, “there is a risk of triggering further recession-induced poverty that will exacerbate the crisis even more, accelerating and deepening poverty worldwide.”
Pakistan’s inflation rate spiraled to 13.76 per cent in May, the highest in two-and-half-year.
The fast depletion of the foreign exchange reserves was the result of Pakistan’s inflation of twin deficits, a lack of foreign currency inflows, and a sharp increase in the foreign debt servicing obligations.
Inflation in Pakistan entered the double-digit mark in July, the biggest surge in nearly six years.
has been high for a number of years now but the latest round owes in no small manner to Islamabad’s own peculiar decision-making process.
Amidst a fragile economic and domestic situation in Pakistan, the economy is reeling under severe inflation, rising debt, and poor industrial performance.
Pakistan imports wheat, pulses, sugar etc. The global crisis, particularly after the Ukraine conflict, has set the prices of almost everything to the roof.