Islamabad (TDI): The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has removed Pakistan from the list of “hunger hotspots”.
However, the United Nations’ arm has projected that acute food insecurity will remain at 20-25 per cent in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan.
A recent World Bank Brief on poverty and equity, food price inflation in Pakistan showed considerable changes from April to June 2024, easing price pressure for the poor, vulnerable, and aspiring middle-class households who allocate 42-48 percent of their budgets to food.
However, energy inflation rose 65 percent and core inflation including transportation remained elevated in rural areas.
Higher indirect taxes drove further prices surge for consumer goods and services.
These adversely affected the families falling in the above-mentioned categories who allocate 23-28 percent of their budgets to energy, housing and transportation services.
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The report said that primary-to-middle and middle-to-secondary schools transition rates improved by 2 percentage points in 2023.
However, over 35 percent of children across Pakistan remained out of school entirely as per the 2023 population census.
Moreover, chronic air pollution remains a public health concern affecting more than 70 percent of population.
About 14 days of schooling were lost in Punjab due to smog and poor air quality.
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Real agricultural incomes rose by 5 percent in the fiscal year 2024, but other sectors employing the poor such as construction, trade and transportation witnessed falling real wages.
Manufacturing activity did not show any increase over the fiscal year 2023.
Likewise, employment and labour force participation rates and job quality indicators also did not improve.
The direct labour income impact and the fiscal multiplier of public investment have been muted as real development expenditures dropped in the fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
Official External Remittances Increase by 10%
Official external remittances went up 10 percent in the fiscal year 2024, but only 3.2 percent of the poorest households received these and exchange rate appreciation and high inflation reduced their real value.
Social transfer spending related to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) increased considerably last year.
The benefit levels under the BISP increased by 50 percent while general consumer price inflation measured 61 percent over the fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
The report estimates that rural poverty is 2.5 times high in contrast to urban poverty while sub-national poverty rates range from 3.9 percent (Islamabad) to 71.5 percent (Khuzdar).
