Employment and investment confidence plummets as Pakistan economy fights Covid-19 pandemic: GECS.

Accountancy experts say economic confidence in Q1 has capitulated as the Pakistani economy struggles to get to grips with the fallout from the coronavirus.

A national survey of senior accountancy practitioners, who reflect the outlook of a large number of businesses they advise, found that confidence has fallen by more than 5% to -28, a record low for Q1 registered in the 11-year history of the research.

The report Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS), jointly published by ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) reveals:

* Global confidence fell to its lowest level on record with big falls in all regions.

* The global orders index, which tends to be less volatile than confidence, also fell sharply.

* Pakistan employment and investment tumble to record lows.

* Pakistan set to suffer a sharp economic contraction in coming months.

Michael Taylor, chief economist at ACCA, revealed there was relatively little divergence in confidence between regions owing to the global nature of the coronavirus economic shock.

He said: "Pakistan economic...