Sizeable portion of population in Pakistan forced to seek financial help during virus lockdown, claims report

KARACHI: A sizeable portion of the population in Pakistan felt the impact of the coronavirus lockdown that forced them to ask for help to overcome financial problems besides confronting shortages of basic edible commodities, a Gallup survey has found, The News reported.

According to the survey, 51% of Pakistanis were optimistic about the relations between major world powers and Pakistan after the COVID-19 crisis, ranking 6th out of 17 countries regarding hopefulness. The survey was conducted by Gilani Research Foundation.

The sample size of the survey was 1,500 people from across the country who were quizzed about availability of the essential commodities and their economic plight. In recent days, the government has hinted at easing the virus lockdown restrictions following worldwide trends,

Also read: NCOC proposes easing lockdown restrictions after May 9

23% confirm shortages of basic edibles

The traders of Karachi and Quetta had earlier pledged to violate the restrictions and to go ahead with opening their shops and markets. The lockdown enforced since March will likely to be relaxed from May 9 as the countrywide infections topped 23,000 figure, Geo News reported.

According to the findings of the Gallup Survey, 23% respondents confirmed shortages of basic edibles during the virus lockdown, while 77% did not agree with the notion of any shortages of the daily food items, the report published in The News claimed.

As many as 20% of surveyed people said they sought the help of friends and relatives during the virus lockdown to run the expenditures of their household, while 80% said they were able to tide over this pandemic crisis without asking for any help from friends and famly.

Also read: Middle East countries return to normalcy after coronavirus-led lockdowns

Pakistanis optimistic about global cooperation 

Similarly, Gallup conducted another survey to scale the "hopefulness" over the level of cooperation between Pakistan and the world's major powers in wake of the virus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands have been killed by the virus worldwide and millions infected.

The survey ranked Pakistan 6th out of 17 countries that feel that international cooperation was increasing in the wake of the pandemic and at least 51% ( one in two) were optimistic about the global level of cooperation between Pakistan and its international partners.

In the survey, a nationally representative sample of adult men and women from across the four provinces was asked: “Do you expect the relations between the major world powers after the crisis to become more cooperative or more confrontational?”

Also read: Ijaz Shah rules out new coronavirus code of conduct for last 10 days of Ramadan

Russians, Koreans expect more confrontation

In response to this question, 51% Pakistanis said they believe that relations between major world powers will become more cooperative, 17% believe they will become more confrontational while 32% say they don’t know/cannot say.

According to the global results, respondents from Thailand and Indonesia are the most optimistic about relations between major world powers becoming more cooperative after the COVID-19 crisis. Russians and Koreans expect more confrontations. 

Originally published in The News