Almost half of Pakistanis blame Imran Khan government for inflation: Survey

Islamabad: At least 49 per cent of Pakistani people believe that the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is responsible for inflation in the country, reported Geo News.

According to a new survey by Ipsos, respondents stated that price hikes have impacted all classes in Pakistan, with the bottom end socio-economic classes suffering the most due to it. The research conducted from October 28 to November 4 while interviewing over 1,000 respondents, revealed that half of the Pakistanis blame the federal government for inflation.

Geo News reported that only 15 per cent of the respondents said they blamed previous governments for it, a narrative the PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan have been attempting to establish since day one in power.Forty-nine per cent held the Centre responsible for the crisis, 17 per cent considered provincial governments responsible while only 8 per cent blamed an unknown mafia.

The ratio of those considering the federal government responsible for inflation was the highest (59 per cent) in Balochistan, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 58 per cent, 46 per cent in Punjab and 44 per cent in Sindh.The survey also revealed that price hikes have affected a whopping 97 per cent of the respondents.

Ipsos asked respondents whether they are worried about increasing prices to which 88 per cent of respondents said they were. According to the survey, 4 in 5 Pakistanis (83 per cent) faced cuts in their income due to the coronavirus pandemic.