By Sardar Khan Niazi

Pakistanis have been told repeatedly, that inflation has eased and economic recovery is on the horizon. Yet for millions of families the daily experience is emphatically different: the struggle to put food on the table, to pay utility bills, and to make ends meet persists. The headline numbers may sometimes offer comfort, but the real cost of living paints a grimmer picture. Prices of essentials remain high. Despite periodic declines in headline inflation, the cost of essential items continues to dominate household budgets. Recent data show that year-on-year price levels for staple food, housing, energy, and fuel remain elevated — prices that families cannot avoid. For example, grocery prices and utility costs have been growing faster than many average incomes. For households already spending a large share of income on basics, even modest price increases can be debilitating. In a recent economic survey, average expenses on food rose by over one-third, and energy costs climbed similarly — much faster than income growth. Wages and incomes lag behind costs. One of the most painful ironies of Pakistan’s cost-of-living crisis is that incomes have not kept pace with expenses. While official data show some increase in household earnings over recent years, the rapid rise in spending on essentials has outstripped these gains. The result: real purchasing power has declined for many middle-and lower-income families. For those in the informal economy — daily wage earners, small shopkeepers, blue-collar workers — stagnant wages mean that food, fuel, and utility bills absorb an ever-larger chunk of their already limited income. Energy and utility costs bite hard. Gas and electricity costs — necessities for cooking, heating, lighting, and running businesses — have been climbing sharply. Government decisions to increase energy tariffs, including a 50 per cent rise in gas charges to meet conditions attached to international financial agreements, have pushed utility bills higher for households already struggling with expenses. Energy price changes ripple through the economy, raising transport costs, production costs, and even food prices — tightening the squeeze on families further. Official inflation does not capture everyday reality. Headline inflation figures are often used to claim victory over rising prices, but those numbers do not always reflect the real experience of citizens who feel daily price pressures. A slow inflation rate can still mean that prices are rising — just not as quickly as before. To many families, a 3–6 per cent annual increase still translates into unaffordable groceries or utility bills. Moreover, statistical measures sometimes fail to capture fully localized shortages, seasonal food spikes, and regional disparities in price changes — all of which affect budgets on the ground. Structural Issues underpin persistent strain. Beyond short-term price movements, Pakistan faces long-standing structural challenges: dependence on imported fuel and energy, weak industrial productivity, low exports, high debt servicing costs, and a domestic tax system that relies heavily on indirect levies. These factors feed into price instability and limit the government’s room to provide broad-based relief. For families already stretched thin, the consequence is clear: the economy’s cycles of inflation and adjustment leave them little breathing room. To reduce the living costs meaningfully, policymakers must look beyond headline inflation and engage with how real households experience price changes. That means strengthening social safety nets, supporting wage growth, stabilizing energy prices, and boosting domestic production of food and basic goods. Accurate data matters — but so does empathy with those who still feel the pinch every time they shop, pay bills, and send their children to school. In Pakistan today, easing inflation rates are not enough; real relief means ensuring that the price of survival grows no faster than the means to afford it.