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A total of 43 per cent of respondents in an opinion poll in Pakistan have held former Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government accountable for the country's adverse economic conditions.
According to the findings of the survey, 43 per cent of respondents slammed the three-year PTI rule for its inability to control inflation and for the country's debilitating economy, reported The News International. The survey was conducted in Pakistan by the Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR), a research firm that specializes in surveys and Social Science research. Twenty-one per cent said that they experienced no change during Imran Khan's government. While, 55 per cent of respondents appealed to the incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government to bring inflation under control. The research firm conducted the survey on the economic conditions in Pakistan from May 24 to June 3 and welcomed opinions from over 2,000 people from 79 districts of the country, as per the media outlet. Seven per cent said that poverty should be brought under control, seven per cent on increasing unemployment, six per cent on load-shedding, six per cent on the deteriorating economy, three per cent on increase in fuel prices, three per cent on corruption, three per cent on political instability, 2 per cent on availability of potable water and one per cent on non-availability of educational facilities. One per cent declared holding elections as a critical issue while one per cent raised different other issues. Another one per cent said they could not come up with issues that need immediate attention. Earlier, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah also slammed the Imran Khan-led government and said it wasted many precious years of the country. Sanaullah said PTI played havoc with the economy through most unstable and everyday changing tax policies, which plunged the country into the quagmire of inflation. The Interior Minister said that PTI only painted a rosy picture and made false promises which proved a total failure. He said the burden of foreign loans had become unbearable only because of the ill-conceived policies of the PTI. Meanwhile, in its recent 'Pakistan Development Update', the World Bank has highlighted the structural weaknesses of Pakistan's economy which include low investment, low exports, and a low productivity growth cycle. Further, high domestic demand pressures and rising global commodity prices would lead to double-digit inflation in the country. Moreover, the growth momentum is not expected to pick up in Pakistan in the near future as a sharp spike in the import bill would also impact the Pakistani Rupee adversely, as per local media. The World Bank report cites the financial sector's inadequacy as one of the reasons for this low growth. According to the Standard and Poor's Ratings Global Financial Literacy Survey 2015 (S&P Global FinLit Survey), only 26 per cent of the adults in Pakistan are financially literate. Thus, limited financial literacy in Pakistan is concerning for the investors as it has exacerbated the informality challenge in the country. (ANI)
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