RECENT reports that an average family of six now requires at least $25 000 for its monthly basics, which came at a time most families are surviving on less than a dollar per day, made sad reading as they pointed to yet another gloomy year despite a good agricultural season. In a commentary this week, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet) warned that despite a good agricultural season and a projected bumper harvest, the general public will continue to face economic hardships stemming from low disposable incomes and a high cost of living. Incomes will continue to be subdued, basic commodity prices will continue rocketing and inflation, coupled with the effects of the COVID-19-induced lockdowns, will haunt us until year end. What is worrying is that authorities in government have ignited a new wave of price increases by hiking the price of fuel, toll fees and charges for other public services. The effects of this extra burden will be felt most by the poor and downtrodden, while the elite lives lavishly. We say so because government has not followed these sharp increments with cushioning interventions for the poor surving on US$1 or less a day. Despite the authorities boasting that Zimbabwe is hugely endowed with rich mineral resources, and would leverage on them to stave off poverty, the plight of the populace would remain in jeopardy as these resources are not benefiting the public but a few fatcats in the corridors of power. We are concerned that while millions continue to suffer due to policy missteps and sheer plunder of public resources, authorities always portray Zimbabwe as a country with enough for everyone. Now that an outsider has warned authorities to come to the rescue of the poor from the jaws of poverty, we hope to see authorities extending a helping hand to the poor. The interventions that would help the poor include provision of food handouts until the next harvest and addressing the price madness on the market through friendly policies, not price controls as that would worsen the situation.