World Bank says 34% Pakistanis living on just $3.2 a day income

Islamabad, April 20: The World Bank has said that 34 per cent of Pakistan's population was living on just $3.2 or Pak Rs 588 a day income, Express Tribune reported. The Pakistan Development Update, the biannual report issued by the Washington-based lender, also said that soaring inflation disproportionately affected poor and vulnerable households that spend a relatively larger share of their budget on food and energy.

The poor spend around 50 per cent of their total consumption on food items, the World Bank said. It pointed out that Pakistan's key indicators were further deteriorating in the current fiscal year, seeking urgent measures to tighten the fiscal belt for ensuring debt sustainability.

Poverty measured at the lower middle-income class poverty line of $3.2 Purchasing Power Parity line of 2011 per day was estimated at 34 per cent in the last fiscal year. The ratio was 37 per cent in the preceding year. But despite a nominal reduction, the percentage was significantly higher and it would be a constraint for the new government that was assigned with an uphill task to ensure economic viability of the country, Express Tribune reported.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Dr Miftah Isamil as the finance minister. Ismail will be assisted by Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha who has been assigned the portfolio of minister of state for finance.