ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Rehman has a full-time job, leaving home at 7am every morning and driving a staff pick and drop van till evening.
But recently, he said, it has not been enough to make ends meet, which is why he signed up with the ride-hailing service, Bykea, offering rides on his motorbike and making deliveries until well past midnight on some nights.
But even with two jobs, Rehman still falls short of what he needs to cover expenses for his family, including his three-year-old son.
“As you know with inflation, a person cannot afford [to live on one job] and that’s why we have to work two jobs,” Rehman told Arab News.
Rehman is not alone.
With a September inflation rate of 31.4 percent mainly driven by fuel and energy prices, millions of Pakistanis face a cost-of-living crisis and are struggling to survive. Pakistan’s poverty rate has risen from 34.2 percent to 39.4 percent in the last one year, according to the World Bank and the country has the lowest per capita income in South Asia.
“We are three [adult] family members including my mother and wife… It is difficult to get by in this inflation,” Rehman said. “We would save up something when petrol was a bit cheap, but now petrol is costly and it is difficult [to save up].”
Petrol prices remain high even as the government on Monday cut the prices of petrol and diesel owing to the decreasing trend of petroleum prices in the international market. Electricity bills have also at a record high in recent months, fueling nationwide protests.
To cover costs, Rehman said he drives a Bykea up to six hours a day after returning home around 7-8pm from his day job.
“Obviously, we are human beings and get drained, but we have no option.”
There are many others facing a similar predicament.
Javed Masih works as a laborer with masons during the day and as a house cleaner in multiple Islamabad homes in the evening. The 49-year-old’s monthly expenses had jumped from Rs50,000 ($180) to Rs80,000 ( $288) in recent months, he said, prompting him to withdraw his children from a private school and enroll them in a public school to save money on fees, books and transportation.
“I have five family members to support, including three school-going children,” Masih said. “We are faced with a choice between our food and children’s education.”
Arshad Khan, a 33-year-old government employee in Islamabad, now also works as an electrician and plumber on the weekends.
“It is almost impossible to meet expenses with one job, so I have to push myself on the weekends to make some extra income to provide food and education for my children,” Khan told Arab News.
“Nobody wants to work extra hours at the cost of their health and family time, but inflation has forced us to look for multiple streams of income.”
Economists expect double-digit inflation to continue in Pakistan, given a high interest rate and fluctuating energy prices in the global market.
Pakistan lacks adequate resources to run its oil- and gas-powered plants and energy imports make up the majority of the country’s external payments as it faces an economic crisis with an acute balance of payments problem.
“It is a fact people are struggling to put food on the table with a significant increase in recent months in the prices of staple food, petroleum products and utility bills,” Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, an executive director at the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute, told Arab News.
“These are testing times, but we should hope for the best and extend financial and moral support to those in need.”
