Too rich and too poor

One had hoped that the much-touted ‘Relief package’ would bring some relief. However, this hope was short-lived. Given the rate of inflation, it seems likely that soon people will run out of food altogether. Middle class families are the most vulnerable. They have no assets and live on underpaid salaries. School fees are unaffordable. Basic commodities such as bread and eggs seem like luxury items, and there is no relief in sight.

Unfortunately, there has been no increase in salaries to mitigate the impact of inflation. Most of these families will probably not be eligible for the relief of 30 percent – they are too rich for that. For them, the announcement was just that fuel would get more expensive still, and general expenses would rise further.

Ifrah Shahbaz

Islamabad