JK News Today
Jammu, November 26:
Most Pakistanis believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a consumer confidence survey conducted in November by Ipsos, a Paris-based market research and consulting firm. It was reported in Dawn today.
The survey, which included the participation of 1,110 male and female respondents above the age of 18 from across the country, concluded that 87 per cent of them were of the opinion that Pakistan was moving in the wrong direction — a sharp increase from 66pc participants who believed so in the September 2021 survey and the highest ever since August 2019, the newspaper said quoting findings of the survey.
Based on these reading, “the public sentiment about [the] overall direction of the country has hit its lowest ever,” the survey report stated.
The survey also found inflation to be the “most worrying issue for Pakistanis”.
As many as 43pc of the respondents rated the increase in inflation as the most worrying issue, 17pc more since the September 2021 survey.
Fourteen per cent of them said unemployment was the most worrying problem, followed by 12pc expressing worry over increasing poverty and eight per cent deeming the coronavirus pandemic as the most worrying issue. Just five per cent were of the view that the increase in taxes was the most worrying issue, while four per cent said the decreasing value of the rupee was the most concerning problem.
Three per cent of them found increase in electricity prices to be the most worrying issue and two per cent said electricity load shedding was the problem that worried them the most. Two per cent rated corruption, bribery and nepotism as the most worrying issue, one per cent said interference of state departments in each other’s matters was the most worrying problem and as many found disclamation behavior in the implementation of law and justice most worrying.
Comparing the results of surveys conducted since August 2019, the report stated that “inflation and unemployment have been the most worrying issues for Pakistanis” for the last two years. An average of survey results during this period showed that 72 per cent respondents rated inflation as the most worrying problem, 64pc unemployment, 50pc the increase in poverty, 33pc the increase in electricity prices and 29pc the burden of additional taxes.
