CARETAKER Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar while reiterating the government’s commitment to providing a favourable environment and streamlining regulations, urged the local business community to take advantage of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC). Addressing the ceremony for the distribution of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Awards to top 25 companies of the country for the year 2022, he said the caretaker government’s ultimate goal was to provide a blueprint for the next government. He said the government had sought help from the Pakistan Army to facilitate the business environment through the SIFC forum.
The SIFC was established to facilitate investment by removing roadblocks on a priority basis and its active support for the process has restored confidence of the business community as reflected in the picked up economic activity and performance of Pakistan Stock Exchange, which reached the highest mark of 62,461 points in the history of the country. This represents a gain of more than 48% during the year and is linked to the successful policies being implemented by the government with the full support of the military leadership which is represented at the SIFC by Army Chief General Asim Munir. The investment and economic environment has improved a lot as a consequence of the policies that helped avert a default, conclusion of a staff level agreement with the IMF and recent agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait. The determination of the government to pursue with full force the ongoing crackdown against different mafias and privatization of the loss incurring state-owned enterprises have also contributed to the improvement of the overall economic environment. It is good that instead of merely acting as a stopgap arrangement, the interim set-up intends to leave behind a clear roadmap for the next elected government. Experience shows it is next to impossible for the elected governments to implement some of the tough measures because of the feared backlash of the public opinion and that is why the Caretaker Government is devising policies and implementing them on a fast track to put the country on the right track. The Prime Minister has rightly pointed out that the measures taken by the government, including the crackdown on smuggling, illicit foreign currency trade and power theft, had yielded results, triggering market sentiments and propelling the Pakistan Stock Exchange by 33 per cent in November to the historic 64,000 plus, besides boosting investors’ confidence. There is no doubt that the overall economic environment has much to do with the government policies and in this regard a balanced approach will have to be adopted while taking decisions like unending hikes in electricity and gas tariffs and leaving the rupee at the mercy of speculators and manipulators in the name of market-based exchange rate. However, we have also seen that the business community did not come up to the expectations of the country even when the successive governments provided them fairly attractive incentives to increase local production and exports. That is why, the PM urged the corporate sector to explore opportunities in regions like the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Caucasus, and the unexplored around 1.3 billion African population. He also emphasized the need to prepare for the $36 trillion trade activity expected to take place in China within 10-15 years. He encouraged soul-searching and improvement of approaches to envision Pakistan as the economic power of the region. Elsewhere in the world, companies focus on what is known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which helps a lot in resolving problems of local populations. In Pakistan, some companies are doing well but others are lagging behind as their entire focus is on minting money without caring about the plight of the people around them. Similarly, the governments have been encouraging businesses and industrialists to adapt to new and emerging technologies including digital revolution but here again proper investment is not made on technology and innovation and as a result we are unable to keep pace with the rest of the world, especially our competitors, in the export market. In the shape of SIFC, the country has a robust platform to help resolve problems of the business community and accelerate the pace of investment. It is now for the business community to take advantage of this unique opportunity for their own good and that of the country.
