Pakistan may lack a lot of things but optimism is not one of them. The bulk of the 320 respondents of an online survey by Dawn’s Business & Finance team expect the pandemic to continue and all household expenses to rise. They think only the rich have gained financially and it is the rich who will continue to reap, regardless of who is at the helm — Asad Umer, Hafeez Sheikh or Shaukat Tarin. Yet, 2022 will be a good year. Almost half of those who filled the form online expect their income to rise while two out of five believe that the economy will improve. Expectations are at par with last year when nearly half the respondents expected the national economy to improve in 2021 along with an anticipated increase in family wealth and earnings.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 3rd, 2022