ISLAMABAD, JAN 6: /DNA/ – Business leader and former President of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt, said on Monday that the poverty rate in Pakistan is increasing rapidly. It has now reached a dangerous level.
He said that people’s incomes should be increased to reduce poverty; otherwise, society will confront serious problems.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said in a statement issued here today that despite the reduction in inflation, nothing essential has become cheaper, which is surprising.
The business leader noted that people are more interested in filling their stomachs than statistics regarding receding inflation.
Shahid Rashid Butt said that the World Bank has said in a report that the poverty rate in Pakistan in 2024 was 25.3 percent, which is 7 percent more than in 2023, due to which another 13 million people have been trapped in the mire of poverty.
The report said that the increase in poverty has further worsened the condition of the poor people as 3 million people have fallen below the poverty line in 2024, which refutes claims of improved living standards.
He said that the government should pay attention to the people’s declining living standards, stop the artificial price increases, and increase the amount allocated for the Benazir Income Support Program by at least Rs 200 billion. Increased allocation for BISP will help the increasing number of people below the poverty line.
Mr. Butt noted that the resources for the increase in BISP allocation should be generated by reducing current expenditures and not from local or international loans because loans will further stoke inflation.
He noted that the current economic policies bear a greater burden on the poor than on the rich. At the same time, the elite’s control over resources continues to prevail, against which only rhetoric is being used.
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