Pakistan’s Gen Z taking to investing in stocks in big way, claim stock managers
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has been one of the top performing stock exchanges in the region despite the West Asia conflict but it still lags behind India and Bangladesh when it comes to the percentage of investments made by Pakistan’s total population, a senior official at the PSX said.
Aamir Mushtaq Kanju, PSX’s Deputy General Manager and Lead, Product Management and Research, said that in the last fiscal year 26′ Gen Z represents 41 per cent of the new accounts opened in the PSX.
“For many, the stock market now represents a powerful wealth multiplier and we have set a target to reach 2.5 million new Pakistani investor accounts in the next two years,” he added.
However, despite Gen Z now investing more in the stock market compared to its total population of around 260 million, the investments by Pakistan’s investor population is at less than 0.2 per cent compared to India’s six per cent and Bangladesh’s 1-2 per cent, the senior PSX official said.
According to the PSX data, of the 1,80,148 retail investors who entered the stock exchange from August last year to May this year, around 41 per cent were aged between 18 and 30, totaling 74,629.
The average monthly account openings at the PSX had tripled to 15,000 this year, Kanju said.Owais Ashraf, a financial analyst with AKD Investments, said that the growing interest of the Gen Z in the stock market is not surprising since he confirmed the stock market has delivered an annualised return of about 66 per cent in dollar terms over the past three years.
Ashraf said measures taken by the government to ensure microeconomic stability plus the financial assistance that Pakistan has got from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of its loan programme and the long term deposits made by Saudi Arabia and China had boosted the confidence of investors local and foreign.
Earlier, Pakistan was in danger of defaulting on its external debt payments in 2023 with inflation also surging to a record 38 per cent but a USD 37 billion IMF package has eased concerns and also seen growing stability and even a surge in the stock market performance.
On Wednesday, KSE 100-Index benchmark rose by 1.1 per cent to 179,571.27 points and the gain lifted the index’s year-to-date advance to 43 per cent or 53,944 points, according to the PSX’s data.
Ashraf said that for the Gen Z, who mostly do corporate level 9 to 5 jobs, the stock market offers multiple opportunities to boost their wealth and most of them are keen on investing in crypto currency, gold, commodities and the foreign exchange market.
“These youngsters are highly educated and learn the ropes of the market very quickly to improve their investor portfolio and dividends,” he said.
The Pakistan Economic Survey (PES) for FY2025-26 unveiled on June 11 showed that the GDP grew by 3.7 per cent but missed its growth target due to external shocks.
On June 12, while presenting the annual budget 2026-27, which saw a hike in defence spending by 17.6 per cent to PKRs 3,000 billion, marking a significant increase from last year, Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said the total federal budget is estimated at PKRs 18,771 billion and the “GDP growth target is 4 per cent.”
