According to a consumer confidence survey conducted in November by Ipsoswhich is a Paris-based market research and consulting firm, majority ofPakistanis believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction.
It is pertinent to note that the survey included the participation of 1,110male 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 wasmoving in the wrong direction, a sharp increase from 66pc participants whobelieved so in the September 2021 survey and the highest ever since August2019.
The survey report, based on the results stated that “the public sentimentabout [the] overall direction of the country has hit its lowest ever.”
According to the results, when the participants were asked about the stateof economy, only five per cent of the respondents deemed it to be “strong”.More than 40pc termed it “weak” and over 50pc were of the view that it was“neither strong nor weak”.
An “acute majority” of the participants, 64pc of them, expected the economyto remain weak in the next six months and just 12pc were hopeful about theeconomy getting stronger. Meanwhile, 24pc of the participants said theeconomy would neither weaken or strengthen in the coming few months.
The survey report, hence, concluded: “After seeing an all-time high inSeptember 2021, the current economic situation perception has hit rockbottom.”
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In September’s survey, around 20pc of the participants had termed the theneconomic situation “strong”.
Moreover, a mere five per cent of the participants in this month’s surveyrated their current financial situation as “strong”. Over 40pc of them saidtheir personal financial situation was “weak” and close to 50pc describedtheir financial situation as “neither strong nor weak”.
Similarly, just 13pc of them were optimistic about their financialsituation improving over the next six months, while 63pc lacked thisconfidence and 24pc believed that their personal financial situation wouldneither strengthen nor weaken.
