Every 4 in 10 Pakistanis believe that inflation is the most important problem in the country according to results of a survey conducted by Gallup & Gilani.

Other answers to the question, “What do you think is the most important problem in Pakistan at the moment?” include joblessness, coronavirus, poverty and corruption.

The opinion poll was conducted between April 24 and May 15 this year, with 616 adult men and women from rural and urban areas of all four provinces, according to press release by Gallup & Gillani on Tuesday.

All four provinces cited inflation as the largest problem, with 46% participants in Balochistan saying so; 42%, 38% and 34% gave the same answer in Punjab, KP and Sindh respectively.

Gallup & Gillani Pakistan, an independent research and consultancy firm, is the Pakistan affiliate of Gallup international, an association of polling organisations.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s inflation rate (year on year) in May 2021 over May 2020 was 10.87%. The top commodities that increased in prices from the previous year include chicken, condiments, cooking oil, motor fuel and electricity in both urban and rural areas.

In April this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan sought the citizen’s help to fight inflation. In a telethon on April 4th, he declared that he could not tackle these problems alone and “needs the nation’s help.”

Opposition parties, especially the PML-N and PPP have repeatedly pointed to the issue of inflation during Khan’s rule in Pakistan. In a press conference on May 30th 2021, former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail called the upcoming budget “anti-people.”