Many people would be able to afford different things, like phones, solar lights to replace kerosene, smokeless stoves, etc.

The problem is that things like phones and fuel (anything that requires human effort to make or extract) will face an 18% increase in salary costs because everyone expects to take home 18% more each month. So most things will be more expensive -- whether 18% more or not, I don't know.

It's much more complex, but if everyone has 18% more money, probably the phones, lights and stoves will be 18% more expensive.

I know it's complex.

Phones and lights haven't exactly been going up in price with GDP. Stoves in the valleys I saw in Nepal were mainly affected by distance travelled by dzos.

Throwing your hands up in the air, pronouncing the problem too complex sounds like a really convenient excuse to do nothing.

The smokeless stoves are a really good example of a little money going a long way to help people's quality of life.