Survey Paints Gloomy Picture Express Tribune - Press Release issued by Union of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Karachi -- November 03, 2022 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME)

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Continued political and economic unrest in Pakistan has disillusioned entrepreneurs increasingly about the future prospects of their businesses. According to a Gallup Pakistan survey conducted in the last quarter of 2022 for the Gallup Business Confidence Index, 65% of business owners believe their businesses are struggling. Industrial machines businesses are doing the best out of all business types, with 75% of them believing that conditions are good.

On the other hand, cloth and garment shops are experiencing the worst levels of confidence, with 81% of them saying business conditions are not conducive. "Undoubtedly, political and economic stability go hand-in-hand, as they have a direct impact on business confidence," said Mustafa Mustansar, Head of Research at Taurus Securities. "I think from what we are witnessing in the country, the government does not seem to have the answers to our economic woes, and politics remains dysfunctional and divided," he added.

The findings of the survey indicate that the Net Future Business Confidence score has degraded by 50% since the beginning of 2022 and stands now at a dismal minus 10%. Compared to earlier this year, the number of businesses saying the country is headed in the wrong direction has gone up by 32%.

Less than 15% of businesses in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) believe that the country is headed in the right direction. A quarter of businesses in Balochistan believe the same. Similar to the findings of the survey conducted in the first quarter of 2022, inflation remains the most-cited problem that businesses would like the government to resolve by the end of this year.

In addition, as many as 72% of the businesses surveyed reported experiencing load shedding every day. Speaking to the Express Tribune, Ahmad Jawad, CEO of the Pakistan Businesses Forum (PBF) said, "The government should immediately engage industrialists in a policy discussion and try to minimize their problems to ensure at least moderate growth in large-scale manufacturing during the current fiscal year."

"It is true that in some areas, like energy pricing, there is little that the government can do to facilitate exporters except to allow subsidies to continue in the short run," he added. "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions provide the government with very little...