Pakistan, July 3 -- There was a time when inflation was seen mainly as a poor man's problem. Today, it has entered the drawing rooms of the salaried class, the small business owner, the young professional, the retired parent, and the family that once considered itself comfortably middle class. The crisis is no longer limited to whether people can buy wheat, sugar or petrol. The real crisis is that Pakistan is becoming too expensive to live in.

This is not just a feeling. The numbers now confirm what households have been saying for months. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, CPI inflation increased by 11.1 per cent year-on-year in June 2026, compared with 3.2 per cent in June 2025. Urban inflation stood at 11.2 per cent and ru...