AKTA cites widespread shutdowns, rising inflation and unemployment, warns of no economic recovery in sight for 2026
Small traders have declared 2025 as the ‘worst year’ in the country’s history in terms of business activity, investment, unemployment and inflation. They said overall commercial activity remained below 60% throughout the year due to political instability and economic uncertainty.
According to a report prepared by All Karachi Traders Alliance (AKTA) President Atiq Mir, 2025 turned out to be a ‘year of closures’ as a large number of industries and business units shut down, triggering a sharp rise in unemployment. The report states that investor confidence was badly shaken while capital flight accelerated as local investors continued to move their funds abroad.
The report further states that persistent and unbearable inflation made 2025 a nightmare for the poor and the middle class, while the economy suffered setbacks on all fronts. It criticized politicians for claiming to have averted default but failing to protect industry and commerce from collapse and bankruptcy.
AKTA noted that the performance of state institutions remained extremely poor during the year. It claimed that despite 35 foreign visits by the rulers in the name of attracting foreign investment, no significant investment took place while domestic capital continued to fly out of the country.
The report added that no serious effort or effective economic strategy was visible to pull the country out of the crisis, and warned that no signs of improvement were expected in 2026 either. The traders’ report highlighted excessive taxation, skyrocketing prices of electricity, gas, petrol and the dollar, and the inability to curb artificial price increases as major factors behind the continued economic decline.
It said essential commodities had gone beyond the reach of poor and middle-income groups, while traditional market activity, crowds and buying trends remained absent even during high selling seasons. Atiq Mir said the unchecked expansion of indirect taxes pushed workers, laborers and wage earners into dire straits, with many facing unemployment and hunger.
The sharp decline in job opportunities, he added, also contributed to a worrying rise in crime. According to the report, 80% of traders suffered losses, many were unable to pay employees’ wages and over 50% of workers lost their jobs. Rising shop rents, electricity bills and operating costs became impossible to sustain.
The report criticizes the government for relying on artificial and misleading economic indicators to reassure the public instead of taking concrete steps to control inflation and revive trade and industry.
It further points out that while the stock market hit record highs, trade and industrial activity remained at historic lows. Prices of essential commodities including pulses, cooking oil, milk, meat and vegetables continued to rise on a daily basis.
The report described Karachi – the country’s economic center – as having turned into a ‘city controlled by mafias’, where traders and industrialists faced constant threats of extortion. The metropolis of over 40 million people, it said, continued to suffer from inflation, unemployment, encroachment, land grabbing, traffic congestion, water shortages, insecurity, lawlessness and severe municipal mismanagement.
The AKTA report also criticizes the Sindh government’s performance, stating that governance, as in previous years, remained poor in 2025, with corrupt institutions failing to deliver improvements in any sector. The report claims that agencies tasked with controlling prices made deals with profit-making mafias instead of carrying out effective crackdowns, resulting in widespread artificial inflation across markets.
