The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called upon the government to focus on regulatory reforms to improve ease of doing business as the current cumbersome and time-consuming business regulations were hampering the growth of business and investment activities in the country.

 

Atif Ikram Sheikh, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan’s global ranking in ease of doing business has further declined indicating that government has not stepped up efforts for business-friendly reforms to create conducive environment for business activities. He was commending on World Bank’s Doing Business report 2016, which showed that Pakistan has slipped by 2 notches in ease of doing business standing at 138 position among 189 countries. 

 

He said at a time, when the government was highlighting domestic economy as a promising destination for foreign investment, the deteriorating performance of Pakistan on almost all indicators of doing business would not send healthy signs to foreign investors. He said in this competitive business environment no country could attract investment without improving business regulations and urged that government should take some tangible measures to improve business climate. 

 

He said the report has pointed out getting an electricity connection and paying taxes as cumbersome procedures for businesses in Pakistan and emphasized that government should address these issues on urgent basis. He said the business losses due to power outages has been estimated at 34 percent of annual revenue which was enough to prove that energy crisis has badly affected business and industrial activities in the country. He stressed that government should work on war footing basis to improve energy supply situation as without ensuring uninterrupted power supply to businesses, promoting industrialization and attracting new investment would be an uphill task.

 

Atif Ikram Sheikh suggested that government should immediately form a Committee in consultation with business leaders and comprising public and private sector representatives to identify the problem areas that were hampering the growth of SMEs and take required policy measures to improve business regulations in order to pave way for better economic growth of the country.