Poverty ranks among the major socio-economic challenges affecting Pakistan, with widespread adverse implications. Like in other developing countries, destitution in Pakistan has evolved across decades, with a declining spiral in the 1980s and a gradual reversal of the achieved gains in the 1990s by poor economic policies (Afzal et al., 2020). Historically, penury in the country has been higher in rural than in urban areas. The headcount ratio, human development indicators, and the total population living below the poverty line reveal a remarkable decline in impoverishment levels across the country. From a macroeconomic perspective, rampant poverty has been primarily driven by lofty double-digit inflation, unemployment, and income inequalities. The periodic spike in poverty levels, notwithstanding economic growth, implies incongruous policy functionality in relation to drivers of poverty and the subsequent failure to improve the indicators. Although growth is associated with poverty reduction and improvements in human development, public policies in Pakistan should exert independent influences to alleviate impoverishment and improve its human development indicators. Brief Background on Pakistan Pakistan is a South Asian country and the world’s fifth-most populous. With a predominantly semi-industrialized economy heavily dependent on agriculture, textiles, and food production, a sizeable share of the population resides in the rural areas. Studies indicate that 59% of rural Pakistan is poor and that poverty and inequalities rose more sharply in the 1990s in these neighborhoods than in urban settings (Hameed et al., 2016). Although the country has recorded a 66% decline in poverty levels, particularly between 2003 and 2014, the relationship between GDP growth and poverty eradication is not distinctly discernible. For instance, in 1991, 1997, and 2004, Pakistan’s poverty headcount was 34%, 26.3%, and 51.7% of the total population, respectively, against GDP growth rates of 5.06%, 1.01%, and 7.36% (Afzal et al., 2020). The poverty levels have been aggravated by high population growth rates in the last few decades without corresponding employment growth. Consequently, unemployment is a major driver of poverty in Pakistan. Additionally, Pakistan has experienced the adverse impacts of inflation and multidimensional inequalities in income, consumption, and wealth scores. Indeed, IMF’s austerity measures drove inflationary pressure upwards, with the associated costs disproportionately falling on the poor. The resultant increases in prices of necessities have exacerbated poverty alongside the detrimental impacts of inequalities. Although Pakistan has formulated elaborate designed to stimulate economic growth, human development indicators have remained relatively low, especially in education, nutrition, and health, and general wellbeing of the people. From this perspective, the country’s poverty indexes have focused on statistical and econometric measurements, such as consumption models, instead of improvements in the social sector. Current Policy Environment in Relation to Poverty In collaboration with national and international agencies, Pakistan’s government has launched various public policies designed to help the country alleviate poverty. The country’s current policy environment is inclined towards i