Pakistan, June 13 -- Far more important (and frustrating) than the growth target, the fiscal deficit or the size of the budget in the Economic Survey 2025-26 is the acknowledgement of 70 million Pakistanis forced to live under the poverty line. According to the survey, poverty has climbed from 21.9 per cent in 2018-19 to 28.9 per cent in 2024-25, pushing 27 million more people into financial distress.

That these figures indicate a collapse in household resilience cannot be stressed enough. For years, families absorbed record inflation and currency depreciation by taking on debt, cutting meals, pulling children out of school, postponing medical care and relying on informal borrowing and migration. Rural poverty is said to have risen from ...