Spokesman Report
Islamabad, May 22, 2025: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(OICCI) has unveiled the results of its Business Confidence Index (BCI) Survey – Wave
27, conducted across Pakistan in March and April 2025 following its senior leadership’s
meeting with Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Government of Pakistan Senator
Muhammad Aurangzeb today. The survey reflects significant improvement in overall
business confidence, which improved substantially by 16 percentage points from negative
5 percent to positive 11 percent, compared to the previous wave conducted in October
November 2024.
The positive shift in sentiment across various sectors of the economy can largely be
attributed to macroeconomic stability, declining inflation, and anticipated improvements
in business conditions over the next six months. The Manufacturing sector led the recovery
in the overall business confidence, improving from negative 3 percent to positive 15
percent, followed by the Retail/Wholesale sectors, which rose from negative 18 percent
in the previous Wave 26 to positive 2 percent in the latest survey. The Services sector
maintained a steady outlook and jumped from 2 percent to 10 percent positive in Wave
27.
“The uptick in business confidence is a clear sign that our economic direction is on the
right track. We are focused on creating a conducive environment for investment,
supporting private sector growth, and ensuring long-term macroeconomic resilience. The
improved sentiment among businesses is both encouraging and a validation of our
collective efforts,” Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said.
Commenting on the BCI Wave 27 findings, Yousaf Hussain, President OICCI, stated:
“Over the past two years, overall business confidence has shown a notable improvement
across the business community. This sharp recovery in the Business Confidence in the
latest Wave 27 reflects the resilience of Pakistan’s business sector and its readiness to seize
emerging growth opportunities. It is heartening to see positive momentum across key
sectors, which reflects improved sentiment and growing trust in the country’s economic
direction. To maintain this growing positivity in the business confidence” Yousaf Hussain
added, “there must be greater policy consistency, transparency and active engagement
with the key stakeholders including OICCI members.”
The BCI Wave 27 survey revealed increased optimism for the next six months, with 45
percent of the respondents expressing positive expectations. Key contributors to this
positive outlook include economic growth, improved government policies, investment
climate, and security situation.
Despite the positive trend, 53 percent of the survey respondents reported a negative
outlook on business conditions over the past six months, which is a substantial
improvement from 66 percent negative sentiments in Wave 26. The key concerns indicated
in the survey related to political stability, Rupee FX parity, Energy, and trade policies.
The BCI of foreign investors, OICCI members randomly selected for the survey, showed
a remarkable increase from positive 6 percent to 17 percent. This improvement is primarily
attributed to better global business climate, an improved industry environment in Pakistan
over the past six months, and expectations of increased capital investment in the coming
six months.
M. Abdul Aleem, Chief Executive/Secretary General OICCI, further highlighted,
“The latest BCI Wave 27 results were better than anticipated, with positive expectations
reflected across all major sectors. Employment prospects, expansion plans, and investment
expectations demonstrated notable gains, particularly in the Manufacturing and Retail
sectors. Despite notable improvement on the overall BCI”, M. Abdul Aleem added, “the
new investment plans overall showed an improvement of 19 percent, but remained
negative, which is an area of concern and needs to be addressed to further accelerate
economic growth, energize Large Scale Manufacturing, trade and export.”
Looking ahead, the BCI Wave 27 respondents highlighted inflation, taxation, inconsistent
government policies, and rupee devaluation as the key threats in order of priority. The top
two concerns remain unchanged from the previous wave, indicating ongoing challenges
in these areas.
The OICCI BCI survey is conducted twice a year and reflects the views of major business
stakeholders representing nearly 80 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. The survey covers
responses from various sectors, including Manufacturing, Services, and Retail/Wholesale,
and assesses perceptions at regional, national, and business entity levels. The survey is
conducted face to face throughout the major business centers of the country including
Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi /Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad etc.
