Businesses across Pakistan are observing a shutter-down strike in protest against the tax provisions introduced in the Finance Act 2025. According to reports, a large number of business owners view the new provisions as obstacles to businiess activity and believe they could stifle economic growth.

 

Business owners have suggested that the new tax provisions will serve to reduce profit margins and beget harassment against them by officials from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). As per reports, the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) leads the strike in the city, with key market and trade associations supporting the strike call. 

 

Reports indicate that restaurant owners, traders of automotive spare parts and packaging manufacturers are among those partaking in the strike. In a news conference on Friday, KCCI President Muhammad Jawed Bilwani announced that Karachi, Pakistan’s main commercial hub, “will be closed”. 

 

While the KCCI’s President intends for the strike to last just one day, details from reports suggest that he could extend the strike to “entire weeks” if the chamber does not receive “written assurances before the next meeting".

 

Traders across the country want Islamabad to rescind the imposition of tax disallowance on cash transactions exceeding Rs200,000. Furthermore, reports claim that business owners want the federal government to repeal the decision to enforce digital invoicing for the transportation of goods, along with a curtailment in the power vested in tax officials.

 

Under the new provisions, FBR officials hold the authority to arrest traders, which business owners consider to be unjust. The KCCI’s President has requested that Islamabad revoke the aforementioned provisions introduced in the Finance Act 2025.

 

Business owners have threatened to take their funds and entrepreneurial skills to other regional commercial hubs like Dubai in case the government does not pull back the new provisions. Data from reports indicates that more than 50 trade bodies across Pakistan had endorsed the protest.

 

The timing of the protests spells good news for companies publicly listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as trading remains suspended on both Saturday and Sunday, protecting publicly listed companies from witnessing a drop in their share prices.

 

If negotiations between the federal government and Islamabad pick up speed, the PSX might not take a hit when trading resumes on Monday. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has reportedly refrained from the strike as a result of successful negotiations with the government.