THIS is with reference to the report ‘Business confidence plunges: OICCI survey’ (June 3). It is quite painful to note the despondency in the country’s business community on the economic environment, which the said survey by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) highlighted, despite the many opportunities the country offers. For instance, the country has a population of over 240 million people, and about 35 per cent of them are part of the middle class, meaning they are potential customers of all sorts of products marketed in the country; from motor vehicles to high-end grocery items. In other words, the key fundamentals for doing business in the country remain sound.

One could empathise with the stated reasons for the despondency, including uncertainty over the Middle East crisis, inflation, political instability and currency volatility, but the basic matter to keep in mind is that the population of the country is not going anywhere and will continue to buy goods and services. Therefore, delaying investments and business ex-pansion projects will only be putting more challenges on the businesses.

It is also quite surprising to note that despite the overall business sentiments falling nine percentage points compared to the last survey, business confidence among OICCI member companies, re-presenting the country’s leading foreign multinational investors, actually improved by slightly over 1pc to a positive 28pc.

The positivity of the overseas investors clearly indicates that foreign investors have more confidence in the national economic scenario than local businesses, which is very unfortunate and disconcert-ing. Or maybe the multinational corporations (MNCs) are cautious in their responses so as not to displease their regulators. It could also be a combination of both factors.

A consistent and long-term regulatory regime, including taxation policies, long advocated by the OICCI and the business community at large, will address every major issue and concern of the business community, leading to new investments, which, in turn, will create job opportunities for the youth population and expansion in exports and other positive developments.

Moin Mohajir
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026