Inflation-hit families cut down on food, compromise education to survive.

KARACHI -- Last week Mohammad Faizan, an accounting professional, finally decided to park his motorcycle at home and arranged with a friend to give him a lift to the workplace on main Sharea Faisal from his home in North Karachi.

Idrees Nabi, a wage earner in Godhra, is looking for another job after finishing work at a dyeing unit at 6pm to meet rising expenses of his six-member family.

Huma Nasir, a housewife who lives in Korangi's K-Area, has stopped buying fruit, meat of all types and certain vegetables to keep the home fires burning within the limited budget.

Syed Aftab Ali, a foreman at a factory, has taken two of his sons out of a relatively expensive school and admitted them to a low-ranked school for the new session beginning in August.

Tufail Naseer, owner of a plastic goods production unit in SITE Industrial Area, has decided to squeeze his workforce to 16 from 21 and cut supply vehicles fleet by half.

All the individuals mentioned above are not cutting down on expenses to make savings but they are making frenetic attempts just to survive respectably with bare minimum expenses and manage to keep afloat amid runaway inflation, which is deeply hurting middle and low-income households who brace for another wave of price hike after presentation of this year's budget as it has cut various subsidies.

Financial experts, business analysts and political commentators have a lot to say about the federal budget but what has been ignored in long-term planning, calculations and forecast about the new fiscal's targets is the impact of rising cost of life on common man.

The stories of the five individuals struggling to make both ends meet reflect situation of average Pakistani, who is forced to cut down on expenses and find alternate sources of income to survive.

'The worst phase'

They all concur in unison that they are trapped in the worst phase of their lives.

'I calculate expenses and earnings, make estimates of future spending and suggest measures for upcoming financial challenges for my company,' says Faizan, the accountant at a business concern.

'But I have failed to meet my own family's expenses within my budget. With Rs65,000 salary a month, I can't manage to pay house rent, school fee of two children and utilities bills and then manage the whole month with runaway inflation eating away at the little resources available to me. Majority of my colleagues are facing the same issues,' he complains.

The plight of wage-earner Idrees is not much...