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 lif t 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 f amily.

Huma Nasir, a housewifewholivesinKorangi`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 lowincome 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 different. Earning Rs900 to Rs1,100 a day he had two options to be able to survive work extra hours in the evening or make his 17-yearold son do some work to help the family meet growing expenses.

`I can`t compromise on my son`s education.

So I am looking for some part-time work after 6pm for myself. If I succeed, it will leave me free time only at night just to sleep at home. The situation is going from bad to worse,` he says.

Once leading a stable and happy life, MsHuma had never thought even for a second that all of a sudden she would find it hard to run the kitchen to feed her five-member f amily.

`The bread I had bought at Rs75 a day before yesterday is tagged at Rs90 today. The cooking oil has crossed Rs600 per litre mark. The milk is not less than Rs170 per litre. My husband has many other challenges to face outside home. So I have to manage things at home. With a certain amount in hand, one can only go for cost cutting to survive these days. We are no more eating the quality food we used to have. We have also cut down on the quantity of the food we used to consume. Still, I have this lurking fear, how long will we be able to do survive this way?` The feariswritlarge oneveryfacein society, except the higher middle class and the elite.

The foreman Aftab has made a major decision to overcome this fear. He has decided to compromise on quality of education of his two sons.

`This will help me save around Rs13,000,` he says.

`If you move in my circle of friends and relatives, they will tell you that I enjoy a soundfinancial position. And that was true till a year or so ago. But believe me, it`s not me alone who is facing the worst phase of my life, the runaway inflation has pushed everyone to compromise on several good things and even necessities,` he remarks.

`Rich` also feeling the heat Unfortunately, he is not exaggerating at all since even those who are considered `rich` are also feeling the heat.

Tufail`s plastic goods production unit is struggling for survival and sadly his employees have to bear the major brunt. `It sounds cruel to lay of f five workers but what else can I do to save the jobs of the other 16,` he says.

`The cost of doing business is growing and revenues while declining amid shrinking purchasing power of people. I have been running this business for past 17 years and I have never witnessed such a situation I am facing today. If conditions do not improve, I am not sure how long I will be able to keep this business going, he said in a dismal tone.