Along with the unfair distribution of wealth in Pakistan, the lifestyles of the rich and the poor are distinctly different, which is having a negative impact on the society.
According to a report, one percent of the elite class of Pakistan controls 50 percent of the country’s economy. In a developing country like Pakistan, the unfair distribution of wealth to this extent is a dangerous trend. They compare, a poor and a rich Pakistan.
According to a report by UNDP, a subsidiary of the United Nations, Pakistan’s elite one per cent received 9 per cent of the economy’s $314 billion in 2018-19, compared to the poor one per cent’s share of just 0.15 per cent. got Similarly, the richest one percent of the world became the owners of 63 percent of the world’s wealth in the last two years.
Concentration of wealth
In Pakistan, due to the concentration of wealth and the decrease in the purchasing power of the common man, the rate of poverty is continuously increasing. A large number of people are suffering from innumerable problems due to the ongoing economic crisis in the country and the increase in the prices of daily commodities and unemployment. Two factors have played a major role in the concentration and unequal distribution of wealth in the past few years, the global pandemic of Corona and the war in Ukraine.
Global Financial System
The Secretary General of the United Nations, in his opening address at the Conference of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the capital of Doha, Qatar, said that meeting the living expenses due to the increase in energy and food prices as a result of the war in Ukraine. It’s getting difficult. This situation, combined with the effects of war, drought, hunger and extreme poverty, creates an environment that exacerbates poverty and injustice.
He made it clear that ending this total crisis requires large-scale and sustained investment, while the global financial system created by rich countries is “largely beneficial to them”. In the absence of effective debt relief, LDCs are forced to spend a large portion of their governments’ revenues on debt servicing.
He warned that countries that have developed and joined the ranks of middle-income countries will lose special benefits from LDCs, which will become a punishment instead of a reward.
The assets of the rich are stable, the economy vulnerable to insecurity
According to the report released in 2023 by the international organization for poverty alleviation ‘Oxfam’, the assets of the world’s rich class have increased enormously in the last two years, due to which inflation and economic insecurity have been suffered worldwide. According to the report, each of the world’s richest people earned $1.7 million in those two years, while the bottom class earned only $1 per person.
The rise in inflation in 2022 also benefited this class due to the concentration of wealth, as it owns global food and energy companies.
Implications in Pakistan
More than 5 crore people in the country are forced to live below the poverty line. According to experts, if the situation continues, within a short time, around 2 crore more people will be forced to live below the poverty line.
The unfair distribution of wealth has deprived the middle class here of access to food, due to which the middle class in Pakistan is suffering from problems like poverty.