Pakistan in crisis: Severe shortage of paper, textbook prints halted

Move aside petrol, the new crisis is paper in cash-strapped Pakistan. With paper prices soaring over 200% Pakistan paper association has warned the government they will not be able to print the books, leaving millions of students across Pakistan without textbooks.

With a high import tax already in place price of paper has soared to a commercially unviable point for printers. With the prices continuously increasing day by day, the publishers are unable to set a price on the books and have halted production.

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Paper is looking like the 'straw that will break the camel's back' as per some experts as Pakistan faces a drought in its foreign reserves. Pakistan’s foreign reserves are at their lowest since 2019, and the country only has reserves for imports for just over a month with it.