AKTA cites widespread closures, soaring 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 that overall commercial activity remained below 60% throughout the year due to political instability and economic uncertainty.
According to a report compiled by President of the All Karachi Traders Alliance (AKTA) 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 shift their funds abroad.
The report further states that persistent and unbearable inflation made 2025 a nightmare for the poor and middle classes, while the economy suffered setbacks on all fronts. It criticised policymakers for claiming to have averted default but failing to protect industry and trade from collapse and bankruptcy.
The AKTA observed that the performance of government institutions remained extremely poor during the year. It alleged that despite 35 foreign visits by the rulers in the name of attracting foreign investment, no mentionable investment materialised, while domestic capital continued to fly out of the country.
The report added that no serious efforts or effective economic strategy was visible to pull the country out of crisis, and warned that no signs of improvement were expected in 2026 either. The traders’ report highlights excessive taxation, soaring prices of electricity, gas, petrol and the dollar, and the failure to curb artificial price hikes as major factors behind the continuous economic decline.
It says 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 peak sale seasons. Atiq Mir said the unchecked expansion of indirect taxes pushed labourers, workers and salaried classes into severe hardship, with many facing unemployment and hunger.
The sharp decline in job opportunities, he added, also contributed to a worrying increase in crime. According to the report, 80% of traders suffered losses, many were unable to pay employees’ salaries, and over 50% of workers lost their jobs. Rising shop rents, electricity bills and operational costs became impossible to sustain.
The report criticises 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 touched record highs, trade and industrial activity remained at historic lows. Prices of essential items, including pulses, cooking oil, milk, meat and vegetables, continued to rise on a daily basis.
The report described Karachi — the country’s economic hub — 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 states, continued to suffer from inflation, unemployment, encroachments, land grabbing, traffic congestion, water shortages, insecurity, lawlessness and severe municipal mismanagement.
The AKTA report also criticises the Sindh government’s performance, stating that, as in previous years, governance remained poor in 2025, with corrupt institutions failing to deliver improvements in any sector. The report alleges that agencies tasked with controlling prices entered into arrangements with profiteering mafias instead of carrying out effective crackdowns, resulting in widespread artificial inflation across markets.
