Pakistanis saying the country heading in right direction increased from 12% to 18%, marking the highest optimism in last two years: IPSOS
ISLAMABAD, June 02 (SABAH): Pakistanis saying the country is heading in the right direction has increased from 12% to 18%, marking the highest optimism in last two years.
According to the results of the survey conducted by a non-governmental organization IPSOS, 3 out 10 Pakistanis consider inflation as most worrying issue, which is lowest read in last 3 years.
Pakistanis who describe the country’s current state of the economy as ‘strong’ are quadrupled since Quarter 1 this year, from 4% to 16%. This positive sentiment is ever highest in last 5 years, except for one-time unusual spike in September 2021.
Proportion of Pakistanis being comfortable making daily household purchases has increased 2.5 times, from 4% to 10% since Q1 this year. There’s almost 4 times increase in Pakistanis who are comfortable in making even major purchases.
Pakistanis expressing their confidence in their ability to save for the future has increased from 11% to 15%. Since September 2023, there is a constant growth in %age of Pakistanis who are confident in their ability to save for future, showing signs of steady but stable growth.
Confidence in job security has slightly increased (15%) since the last quarter (12%).
Since last quarter, Pakistan shows positive change in 3 out 4 sub-indices, resulting in +0.8 pts change overall consumer confidence index. Current overall index of 32.3 is the best outlook in last 3 years.
Economic problems continue to top the list of worrying issues for Pakistanis. However, a significant decrease can be seen in the perception of inflation as the most worrying issue since Q1 2024.
16% Pakistanis believe that economic condition of the country is strong. Males, urbanites, graduates and upper class are more optimistic.
Pakistanis calling country’s current state of economy as ‘strong’ has increased four times in this Quarter, whereas those call it ‘neither strong not weak’ are reduced by 20%.
2 in 10 Pakistanis expect their local economic situations, while 3 in 10 expect personal financial situations to get better in next 6 months.
1,000 people took part in the survey, from all 4 provinces of Pakistan, ICT, GB & AJK. Post-stratification survey weights for provinces, gender and SECs applied to align survey data with population distributions. Data collection was done from 20th to 29th May, 2024.
Ipsos Global Consumer Confidence Index (GCCI) is a national survey of consumer attitudes on the current and future state of the local economy, personal financial situation, as well as confidence to make large investments and ability to save. Consumer sentiment is a key predictor of purchase trends in the market. Despite it being a lagging indicator, if consumer confidence is high, people will make more purchases and the economy will expand. Businesses and Policy Makers can monitor changes in the index to factor the data in their decision-making processes. A wave-on-wave decreasing trend suggests consumers have a negative outlook on their ability to spend. Thus, manufacturers may expect consumers to avoid retail purchases, particularly items that require financing. Likewise, banks can anticipate a decrease in lending activity, mortgage applications, and credit card usage.