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More than 90 per cent of Pakistanis believe that inflation and price hikes are the highest in the PTI government's tenure compared to previous governments, according to a nationwide perceptions survey by Transparency International released on Wednesday, Dawn reported.
According to the results of the National Corruption Perception Survey 2021, 92.9 per cent of Pakistanis "consider inflation and price hike to be the highest in the current PTI government (2018-2021), compared to 4.6 per cent in the PML-N government (2013-2018) and 2.5 per cent in the PPP government (2008-2013)". In addition, 85.9 per cent of the people surveyed said their income had shrunk during the last three years. When asked about the reasons behind inflation and unemployment, 50.6 per cent of them cited government incompetence, 23.3 per cent said corruption, 16.6 per cent said lack of policy implementation and 9.6 per cent blamed undue interference of politicians in government affairs, the report said. A majority of the survey respondents -- 85.9 per cent -- believed the federal government's self-accountability was unsatisfactory. Moreover, 66.8 per cent of them perceived the government's accountability drive to be partial. According to the survey, Pakistanis perceived police as the most corrupt sector (41.4 per cent), followed by judiciary (17.4 per cent) and contracting or tendering (10.3 per cent), citing weak accountability, the greed of powerful people and low salaries as the main reasons behind corruption in the country, the report added. The list of public services for which people had to pay bribes, according to the corruption perception survey, was topped by contracts of roads (59.8 per cent), cleanliness and garbage collection (13.8 per cent), access to water (13.3 per cent) and drainage system (13.1 per cent). When asked about measures that could reduce corruption, 41 per cent of Pakistanis called for harsher punishments, 34.6 per cent said accountability of public officers by expediting the National Accountability Bureau's handling of corruption cases while 25.3 per cent said a complete ban on those convicted in corruption from holding public office could reduce corruption, the report said. "A significant [part of the] population (81.4pc) has declined that they willingly pay bribe and likewise it was a clear perception that bribes are rather extorted from the public through tactics such as inaction or delay in the provision of public services," the report highlighting the results stated. --IANS san/pgh ( 401 Words) 2021-12-08-19:51:12 (IANS)
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