Floods to famine: how 2025 could trigger economic crisis

Pakistan is staring down the barrel of a food security emergency that could ripple through every layer of its economy. The catastrophic monsoon floods of 2025 have submerged vast swathes of the country, from Punjab’s wheat belt to Sindh’s rice-growing districts and parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Over 2,000 villages have been inundated, displacing millions, wrecking farmland, and wiping out critical infrastructure just as the summer harvest reached its peak. The destruction is staggering. Entire standing crops of wheat, cotton, rice, maize, and sugarcane have been destroyed. In Punjab alone, 80% of the country’s wheat production is now at risk. Sindh’s rice fields and fodder supplies are underwater, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has lost tens of thousands of acres of maize and vegetables. Livestock losses are mounting, with fodder destroyed and surviving cattle starving. Farmers are reporting personal losses in the millions, collectively wheat farmers alone have seen over Rs2.2 trillion ...