New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) Pakistan’s poverty rate jumped by 6.4 per cent to $3 per day, a line between 2018-19 and 2024-25, following a succession of adverse shocks, including Covid-19, 2022 floods and a macroeconomic crisis, according to a report.
According to a report by Dawn, the country accounts for almost half of extremely poor population in the entire Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan-Pakistan region, it added.
“Menaap is the only region in the world in which poverty remains above pre-pandemic levels and continues to rise. Pakistan accounts for nearly half of the region’s extreme poor,” the report said.
It further noted that Pakistan accounts for about 48 per cent of people in region living below $3 per day poverty line, while Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen together account for another 47 per cent.
Most recent estimates show poverty rates at $3 per day line approached or exceeded 20 per cent in Djibouti, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen.
In 2024, 14.3 per cent of Menaap region’s population lived on less than $3 a day, compared with 10.4 per cent globally, while 26.9 per cent lived on less than $4.20 a day, compared with 18.9 per cent worldwide.
Projecting Pakistan’s economic growth, the report highlighted that estimated GDP growth would increase from 3.2 per cent in FY25 to 3.7 per cent in FY26 and 3.8 per cent in FY27 as services.
It estimated the current account deficit at 0.1 per cent in FY2026, while fiscal deficit was estimated at 2.6 per cent in FY2026.
Food insecurity remained particularly acute in occupied West Bank and Gaza and Yemen with significant pressures also evident in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Lebanon and Pakistan.
Stronger-than-usual El Nino weather pattern predicted for late 2026 could further amplify food-price pressures and hurt the poor, it said.
–IANS
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