Pakistan’s business confidence rises in April 2025

May 05, 2025 (MLN): The overall Business Confidence Index increased significantly by 0.4 points, reaching 56.9 in April 2025, the latest results of the Business Confidence Survey (BCS), conducted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in collaboration with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), revealed.

This increase was driven by both the Industry and the Services sectors.

Specifically, the BCI for the Industry sector increased by 0.55 points to 55.12, while confidence in the Services sector increased by 0.4 points to 57.49.

According to the survey report, the headline index “Overall Business Confidence” is comprised of two sub-indices: “Current Business Confidence Index (CBCI)” and “Expected Business Confidence Index (EBCI).”

 It is worth mentioning here that overall BCI is a weighted average of the Industry and Services sectors with 0.25 and 0.75 weights, respectively.

Current Business Confidence

The Current Business Confidence Index (CBCI), which is based on the general economic conditions in the country over the past six months, increased by 0.9 points to 56 in April 2025 compared to the previous wave. This change is driven by both the Industry and the Services sectors.

Expected Business Confidence

As far as the expectations regarding economic and business conditions in the next six months are concerned, the Expected Business Confidence Index (EBCI) remained unchanged at 57.8 points in April. Both the Industry and the Services sectors continued to contribute to this level.

Purchasing Managers Index

The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) increased by 0.7 points to 53.5.

Inflation Expectations

Regarding inflation, the survey revealed that Inflation Expectations (IE) of businesses increased by 0.2 points to 64.2 in April 2025.

Employment

The survey also highlighted an overall increase in the Expected Employment Index by 1.3 points to 55.3 in the current wave.

This change was driven by the Current Employment Index of the Services sector, which increased by 1.2 points to 55.3, while the Industry sector’s current employment index increased by 1.8 points to 55.3.

Current Employment Index for the Industry sector increased by 1.1 points to 53.1 in the current wave, while that for the Services sector increased by 1.9 points to 54.4.

Capacity Utilization

The Average Current Capacity Utilization (ACCU) of the Manufacturing sector (within the Industry sector) increased slightly by 0.4% to 64.8% in April 2025.

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