KARACHI:
Pakistan and its people are grappling with a significant economic challenge in the form of poverty. While saving is considered a solution to the challenges faced by those with limited financial resources, the question arises as to why individuals may not have saved despite the awareness that setting aside small amounts periodically can prove beneficial in the future. Through research, it was discovered that saving patterns are influenced by an individual’s psychological needs and distant goals.
Most people are tempted to spend carelessly. The poor falsely believe that their little to no savings cannot provide them with a better lifestyle. A survey was conducted to investigate this. It revealed that almost 25.8% of people are strongly affected by the temptation to spend and almost 27% of people in Pakistan, instead of waiting for an item, especially the luxury item, to go on sale, buy it at full price. In the same way, almost 17.5%-25.6% of people are unable to restrain their desire for unnecessary luxury items. All these temptations and obstacles caused almost 53% of people to borrow money at least once a year.
Cutting down on basic items like tea, coffee, snacks, fizzy drinks, unnecessary clothes, sweets, etc, could greatly help save. Considering money-saving techniques, while the Committee and the Lockbox system (Qullaq) is widely utilised by the Pakistani population, it remains an informal method of saving. As people tend to have easy access to this money, the money does not remain unused for a long period. So, formal ways of saving which have the involvement of financial institutions should be adopted to save money in the longer run.
Warda Mir, Resham Shafaat & Mahnoor Adnan
Sialkot
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2024.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
