Growth, with an empty stomach

EDITORIAL: Pakistan’s latest appearance among the countries suffering the world’s most serious hunger crises should make the government’s repeated celebrations of economic recovery considerably harder to sustain.

The 2026 Global Hunger Index places Pakistan in the worst position in South Asia, while a separate report by Action Against Hunger identifies it among ten countries bearing the brunt of the global food crisis.

An estimated 10.6 million Pakistanis will require humanitarian assistance this year. These findings present a deeply disturbing picture of an economy whose official indicators may be improving while millions of its citizens struggle to secure enough food.

The company Pakistan now keeps in such international assessments should itself be cause for alarm.

The Action Against Hunger report groups it with countries including Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where prolonged conflicts, displacement and severely weakened institutions have devastated livelihoods and food security.

Pakistan faces serious security, economic and climate-related challenges of its own, but its presence among countries enduring such extreme humanitarian emergencies demands an explanation. How has an economy with substantial agricultural resources and an established system of government reached a point where hunger has become such a defining national problem?

The Global Hunger Index offers further evidence of the deterioration. Pakistan’s undernourishment has increased since 2018, while child wasting has moved towards the high threshold. Economic instability, food inflation and repeated climate shocks have undermined household purchasing power and agricultural livelihoods.

The problem extends beyond the availability of food. Families whose incomes fail to keep pace with essential expenses can find adequate nutrition increasingly unaffordable, even when food is available in markets. That distinction should be central to any serious examination of the government’s economic performance.

There is an uncomfortable disconnect between these findings and the official narrative of stabilisation and recovery. Improvements in foreign exchange reserves, inflation indicators or fiscal balances can provide important foundations for economic progress. But the government must explain how those gains are being transmitted to households struggling with food insecurity, inadequate employment opportunities, and declining purchasing power.

Growth figures acquire limited meaning for families forced to reduce meals, sell productive assets or withdraw children from school simply to survive.

The international environment is admittedly becoming more hostile.

The UNDP has warned that higher energy and food prices could push approximately 130 million people into poverty worldwide this year if the increases are passed on without protective measures. Conflict, disrupted trade routes, expensive borrowing and increasingly severe weather events are placing developing economies under extraordinary pressure.

Pakistan’s exposure to floods, droughts and agricultural disruption makes it particularly vulnerable. These pressures, however, strengthen the case for urgent domestic policy action rather than providing an explanation sufficient to excuse continued deterioration.

The government must place food security at the centre of economic policymaking. That requires protecting the purchasing power of vulnerable households, improving the targeting and delivery of social assistance, supporting agricultural productivity and reducing losses throughout food supply chains.

Nutrition programmes, particularly those directed towards children and mothers, deserve sustained funding and measurable performance targets. Federal and provincial authorities must also improve their capacity to anticipate climate-related crop losses and respond before local shortages become wider humanitarian emergencies.

Equally important, the economic team should be required to report progress against indicators that reflect actual living conditions. Hunger, child malnutrition, real household incomes and access to essential services deserve at least as much attention as the financial aggregates regularly presented as evidence of recovery.

Pakistan cannot continue celebrating a return to growth while international assessments place it alongside countries experiencing some of the world’s gravest humanitarian crises.

The hunger time-bomb is already ticking loudly. The government’s insistence that the economy is getting better will carry little conviction until considerably more Pakistanis can afford to eat properly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026