A new Gallup Pakistan survey has found that 53% of the country’s businesses experienced a decline in sales due to the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak
The drop in customer spending was highlighted in the fourth quarter report of Gallup Pakistan’s Business Confidence Index, which recorded the views of people belonging to over 400 business sectors.
In the survey, 53% of traders said sales were down due to the on-going pandemic, whereas 22% said there was actually an increase. Meanwhile 25% said there was no difference in their business operations during the coronavirus period.
About 56% of businesspersons surveyed complained of declining sales in the manufacturing sector. In the services sector, the rate was 53%, whereas, in trading businesses, the rate was reported at 39%.
According to Gallup Pakistan, the biggest decline in sales was faced by traders in the spare parts and electronics sectors.
What was the rate of decline in buying and selling? Commenting on this question, 33% of the businesspersons said that there was a decrease of 41% to 60% in buying and selling. About 18% said the decrease was recorded from 61% to 80% while 16% said that less than a 20% decrease was witnessed in buying and selling during the said period.
One out of every 10 merchants in the manufacturing business said there was an 80% reduction in sales, while 43% of traders reported a 40 to 60% decline in business.
Gallup Pakistan also asked the business sector to estimate the percentage of people who lost their jobs due to coronavirus.
Do you have more employees as compared to 12 months ago?In response to this query, 39% of businesspersons surveyed said they had fewer employees than 12 months ago. About 16% said more employees work with them than before, while 45% said they still work with as many employees as they used to.
According to Gallup, 50% of traders involved in most industrial machine parts reported having fewer employees than before.
After that, 45% of the food and beverage business sector employers said that the number of employees has reduced.