Islamabad: (Parliament Times) Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan was fast improving ease of doing business in the country. After having achieved macroeconomic stability, the Govt. was now making concrete efforts to
achieve sustainable and inclusive higher growth, he added.
The Minister was addressing members of US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC)
at US Chamber of Commerce at Washington.
The present Government was committed to ensuring transparency in all
sectors of the economy and for this it was working closely with
international organizations. For the Govt. bringing good governance through
transparency and fighting against corruption & tax evasion was a serious business, Dar emphasized.
Ishaq Dar apprised the audience that international rating of Pakistan had
improved from negative to positive during the span of last four years. Our
Stock Market has emerged as 5th best performer in the world which clearly
indicated that Pakistan had huge potential for investment. Pakistan had so
far introduced 24 laws to make the environment business friendly where as
ten more such laws were in the making, Dar said.
While stating that Pakistan and the US had long history of strong bilateral
relations particularly in the arena of trade, business & social
development, Minister Dar urged the US investors to take advantage of the
tremendous investment opportunities coming up in Pakistan. He informed the
participants that international Companies must consider relocating their
manufacturing operations to Pakistan as the country had abundant supply of
cheap labour and provided convenient access to very large regional market.
Presently, Pakistan was offering low interest rate and was in the process
of setting up Pakistan Infrastructure Bank led by IFC to provide capital
for infrastructural development to the private sector. Finance Minister
Ishaq Dar added that financial & digital inclusion of Pakistani population
was among top priorities of the Govt.
The event was attended by the representatives of large US Multinationals
including GE, Boeing, LockHeed Martin, Proctor & Gamble, Monsanto,
Exxon Mobil, Motorola, Uber, Cocacola and others who greatly appreciated the
robust improvement in economic & business environment in Pakistan.
