KARACHI: Restaurant owners in Pakistan’s seaside megapolis of Karachi are boycotting Foodpanda in a protest over what they say are “unethical practices” by the mobile food delivery service which seeks to increase its commission fees.
The All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA) announced their protests on Tuesday, accusing the company owned by Berlin-based Delivery Hero SE of increasing commission to “nonviable” levels. From Monday, the protest is going to expand to Islamabad and Lahore.
“Our 250 members have protested over the unfair practices by Foodpanda and boycotted its services from Sept. 15, in the first phase in Karachi. The three-day deadline is ending today. Now our tablets will be closed on Foodpanda in Lahore and Islamabad from Monday,” Ather Chawla, convener of APRA, told Arab News on Thursday.
“They (Foodpanda) are asking for increasing the commission fee from the current 18 percent to 25-35 percent, which is not viable for the business of restaurants whose raw material cost alone is 50 percent,” he said, adding that APRA’s cooperation with Foodpanda has been suspended until the company puts in place “corrective measures.”
Having operations in 50 countries, Foodpanda offers services in 32 Pakistani cities. In Karachi alone, it has some 262 restaurants registered on its platform. A major chunk of the company’s revenue comes from restaurant commissions.
In a letter addressed to the chief executive of Foodpanda, APRA chairman Muhammad Naeem Siddiqui wrote that the company’s managers “blackmail APRA members to increase the commission manifold,” threatening them that their restaurants would be removed from the delivery service’s platform.
Restaurant owners also say Foodpanda is deviating from its original Vendor Delivery concept.
“The original model was that they only book orders through their portal and we would deliver food. Later they also came up with delivery options and now they are forcing us to abandon our own delivery services,” Chawla said, adding that it would reduce the area of delivery from 10 kilometers to four kilometers.
APRA has also written a complaint to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCOP), accusing Foodpanda of “anti-competitive business conduct by forcing restaurants to sign exclusive contract with them, limiting them to work with other food delivery companies.”
“First they forced restaurant owners to hike commission and when they refused, they were pressurized to sign exclusivity agreements,” Chawla said.
As in Pakistan many other companies such as CareemEats, Eat Mubarak, and Cheetay offer food delivery services, Chawla sees Foodpanda’s policy as “a bid to monopolize food delivery business.”
Despite repeated attempts by Arab News, Foodpanda chief executive for Pakistan, Nauman Sikandar Mirza, was not available for comment.
Karachi restaurants boycott Foodpanda delivery service over commission policy
https://arab.news/cugxn
Karachi restaurants boycott Foodpanda delivery service over commission policy
- All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA) protest in Karachi will expand to Islamabad and Lahore on Monday
- Restaurant owners also accuse the Berlin-based company of attempt to ‘monopolize food delivery business’ in Pakistan
IMF warns against policy slippage amid weak recovery as it clears $1.2 billion for Pakistan
- Pakistan rebuilt reserves, cut its deficit and slowed inflation sharply over the past one year
- Fund says climate shocks, energy debt, stalled reforms threaten stability despite recent gains
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economic recovery remains fragile despite a year of painful stabilization measures that helped pull the country back from the brink of default, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday, after it approved a fresh $1.2 billion disbursement under its ongoing loan program.
The approval covers the second review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of its climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), bringing total disbursements since last year to about $3.3 billion.
Pakistan entered the IMF program in September 2024 after years of weak revenues, soaring fiscal deficits, import controls, currency depletion and repeated climate shocks left the economy close to external default. A smaller stopgap arrangement earlier that year helped avert immediate default, but the current 37-month program was designed to restore macroeconomic stability through strict monetary tightening, currency adjustments, subsidy rationalization and aggressive revenue measures.
The IMF’s new review shows that Pakistan has delivered significant gains since then. Growth recovered to 3 percent last year after shrinking the year before. Inflation fell from over 23 percent to low single digits before rising again after this year’s floods. The current account posted its first surplus in 14 years, helped by stronger remittances and a sharp reduction in imports. And the government delivered a primary budget surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP, a key program requirement. Foreign exchange reserves, which had dropped dangerously low in 2023, rose from US$9.4 billion to US$14.5 billion by June.
“Pakistan’s reform implementation under the EFF arrangement has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke said in a statement after the Board meeting.
But he warned that Islamabad must “maintain prudent policies” and accelerate reforms needed for private-sector-led and sustainable growth.
The Fund noted that the 2025 monsoon floods, affecting nearly seven million people, damaging housing, livestock and key crops, and displacing more than four million, have set back the recovery. The IMF now expects GDP growth in FY26 to be slightly lower and forecasts inflation to rise to 8–10 percent in the coming months as food prices adjust.
The review warns Pakistan against relaxing monetary or fiscal discipline prematurely. It urges the State Bank to keep policy “appropriately tight,” allow exchange-rate flexibility and improve communication. Islamabad must also continue raising revenues, broadening the tax base and protecting social spending, the Fund said.
Despite the progress, Pakistan’s structural weaknesses remain severe.
Power-sector circular debt stands at about $5.7 billion, and gas-sector arrears have climbed to $11.3 billion despite tariff adjustments. Reform of state-owned enterprises has slowed, including delays in privatizing loss-making electricity distributors and Pakistan International Airlines. Key governance and anti-corruption reforms have also been pushed back.
The IMF welcomed Pakistan’s expansion of its flagship Benazir Income Support Program, which raises cash transfers for low-income families and expands coverage, saying social protection is essential as climate shocks intensify. But it warned that high public debt, about 72 percent of GDP, thin external buffers and climate exposure leave the country vulnerable if reform momentum weakens.
The Fund said Pakistan’s challenge now is to convert short-term stabilization into sustained recovery after years of economic volatility, with its ability to maintain discipline, rather than the size of external financing alone, determining the durability of its gains.
