With stakes this high, the business community cannot treat constitutional engineering as a distant political exercise. When power structures shift, markets shake. Yet, when faced with sensitivities and the opaque nature of the proposed amendment, many business leaders chose silence in a debate that could reshape the economic landscape they operate in.

Without taking a hard line for or against the proposed 27th Amendment, several business leaders cautiously urged transparency and broad-based consultation. They warned that hastily rushed sweeping constitutional changes without debate risk deepening public mistrust, unsettling investors and injecting fresh uncertainty into an already fragile economic climate.

“In a country still struggling to stabilise positive sentiments and attract capital for growth, secrecy in public decisions and indecent haste in rewriting the rules of the game are not affordable,” a Punjab-based business leader cautioned privately.

“Historically, Pakistan’s business community may not have championed democratic causes, but decades of navigating shifting political cycles and the requirements of global trade have taught hard lessons,” he noted. “Stable markets need credible democratic institutions, consensus-based governance and broad public legitimacy. Without these, policy cannot endure and investment cannot flow.”

‘Stable markets need credible democratic institutions, consensus-based governance and broad public legitimacy; without these, policy cannot endure and investment cannot flow’

Despite concerns over productivity and competitiveness, Pakistan’s business sector wields substantial financial muscle and dominates the economic landscape. The country hosts more than 2.5 million registered firms and an estimated 7m informal enterprises, employing over 70 per cent of the non-agricultural urban workforce. As of August 2025, official records show 265,587 registered companies. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics’ 2025 census counted around 7m informal economic establishments, with 28.5pc of households engaged in home-based work.

Karachi’s business community has been more candid than Punjab’s in assessing the proposed amendment. Ehsan Malik, former CEO of the Pakistan Business Council, offered a detailed note of response, framing the 27th Constitutional Amendment as a potential reset, one that could strengthen stability, clarify authority, and improve policy continuity. In his view, these are prerequisites for long-term investment and sustainable growth.

A key feature, he noted, is the likely return of over Rs500bn of provincial National Finance Commission (NFC) allocations to the centre. Provinces may counter this resource shortfall by imposing selective new taxes, particularly on services, but the shift aligns with the demands of national security and debt-servicing imperatives. It could also compel provinces to finally broaden their own revenue base and pursue long-avoided agricultural and service-sector taxation reforms.

He also noted that provinces posted a record Rs1 trillion surplus in FY25. If reduced NFC flows coincide with continued International Monetary Fund-mandated surpluses, provincial development budgets will inevitably tighten. However, he suggested that a more centralised, priority-driven development model, especially for Karachi, could improve execution and reduce waste, provided coordination mechanisms are strengthened.

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“A clearer constitutional framework, including a formalised institutional role for national security structures, could enhance policy predictability and attract strategic capital from the Gulf and China, where investors value stability over fragmented authority,” he argued. “A proposed Constitutional Court could expedite commercial and regulatory dispute resolution, while selective re-centralisation in education and labour may support a unified skills strategy and strengthen productivity.”

Syed Asad Ali Shah, a leading business commentator and former managing partner of Deloitte Pakistan, was blunt in his assessment. Critical of the 26th Amendment passed last year, he warned that the proposed 27th Amendment would further undermine judicial independence and be an extension of the rule of law and justice. “Such changes would be counterproductive to fair dispensation and good governance, undermine investor confidence and damage the entrepreneurial climate,” he cautioned.

“Moreover, major legislation, especially constitutional amendments, must involve consultations with the private sector and civil society,” he said. “There is no justification for rushing such fundamental changes in the country’s constitution.”

Arif Habib, founder of the Arif Habib Group, said he had yet to review the full text of the proposed amendment. However, based on initial understanding, he did not expect it to unsettle business sentiments and believes it will adjust the NFC framework in favour of the federal government.

Majyd Aziz, former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, lamented the limited access and influence business leaders have in Pakistan’s power corridors. He advised waiting for the formal tabling of the 27th Amendment before forming a definitive view but broadly supported its direction, including a partial rollback of the 18th Amendment.

In his opinion, the 27th Amendment would restructure powers among the pillars of state, increase government efficiency, and curb “the unbridled wastage and plunder of resources by provinces”. If implemented in letter and spirit, he argued, it could boost business confidence.

Shariq Vohra, former president of the Karachi Chamber, criticised the exclusion of business stakeholders from the constitutional reform process. “The draft hasn’t been shared with us, but from what little we know, it appears to centralise power in Islamabad, curtailing provincial authority over the NFC, land regulation, education and population policy,” he said.

“Such concentration will weaken provincial autonomy, shift regulatory approvals to the federal capital, fuel bureaucratic gatekeeping and corruption, and create instability that deters investment, especially for SMEs [small and medium enterprises]. Rather than strengthening democracy and economic governance, it risks ushering in an authoritarian, centralised structure. Major reforms require consultation — not imposition.”

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, November 10th, 2025