Shortages of energy, food worry Pakistanis

With consumer prices for basic goods hitting new highs in Pakistan, anxieties about the country’s economy are also on the rise. After seeing five years of strong gains under the government of President Pervez Musharraf, officials are scaling back expectations for growth in the face of wrenching food and energy shortages.

The crisis has taken a severe toll on Musharraf politically, and public frustration with rising prices helped the opposition win big in parliamentary elections last month.
Now those parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party and a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif, must confront the unpleasant task of managing the crisis. Economists here say a surge of foreign investment and export growth are needed.

The economic downturn has hit poor Pakistanis hardest. But at the same time, the middle class, which has prospered under Musharraf’s government, is feeling the pain, particularly in the country’s all-important flour industry.

Boston Globe