LAHORE – The confidence of Pakistan’s private businesses has reached its highest level in four years despite inflation, high utility costs, and electricity load-shedding.
According to Gallup Pakistan’s survey, businessmen have started thinking that the present regime is managing the economy better than the previous government.
The business confidence survey for Q2 2025 recorded the views of 524 businesses across manufacturing, services, and trade sectors. “Direction of the Country Score” now stands at -2 per cent, a dramatic improvement from the far more pessimistic readings of late 2024.
While the score remains marginally negative, it marks the highest level of confidence in national direction since Q4 2021. The number of businesses holding a good perception about the present regime’s ability to manage the economy has significantly improved over the past year.
According to Gallup, 46 per cent of businessmen rated the present regime’s economic management as better than the previous government.
Gallup Pakistan Executive Director Bilal Ijaz Gilani said the survey was pointing to improving mood among businesses.
He said that the most visible change was an improvement in perception around the direction and a positive trend in trust in the government’s handling of the economy. He said that sustained momentum will depend on continued macroeconomic reforms, policy consistency, and greater institutional responsiveness, especially toward businesses operating outside the formal sector.
The business performance was another area that showed encouraging signs as 61 per cent of respondents described their current operations as “good” or “very good,”.
According to the survey, while the services and trade enterprises reported the largest gains, the respondents from the manufacturing sector underscored comparatively slower signs of recovery.
The survey found 61 per cent of businesses optimistic about the coming months, with the Future Business Confidence score improving by just one percentage point.
Asked about challenges, the businessmen cited price hike and high energy costs and taxes as their biggest concern, which shows the structural challenges remain deeply entrenched in Pakistan’s business sector.
Consumer price inflation, which has eased to a record 0.3 per cent in April from 38 per cent in May 2023, emerged as the most pressing issue, cited by 28 per cent of respondents as the top priority for government action. High utility costs, 18 per cent, while concerns over taxation, 11 per cent, show a slight decrease from last year’s levels.
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