President All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF), Syed Maaz Mahmood has stressed the need for new policies and widespread structural reforms in the upcoming year of 2024 to help investors launch their ventures with ease and comfort, as the country has been lagging behind in the ease of doing business index over the years and especially in the concluding year of 2023.
In his new year message issued on Sunday, he observed that a policy should be finalized after incorporating inputs from real stakeholders of the business community, including the APBF, with the sole aim of facilitating foreign and domestic investment by removing the unnecessary bureaucratic and administrative hurdles that slow down the process of starting new business ventures and hinder economic growth.
Quoting the figures, Maaz Mahmood stated that in the recent Ease of Doing Business Index, Pakistan is considerably behind peer economies, ranking 108 out of 190. In the regulatory area of Starting a Business, Pakistan ranked 72 out of 190 countries. The scope of the new policy intervention in 2024 should be limited to NOCs required by federal regulatory agencies for incorporation and starting operations of a business activity. This policy should cover business registration and authorization required for business operations. The policy should be applicable on all public sector entities of the federal and provincial governments that regulate businesses.
The business leader said that World Bank Group’s Doing Business project provides a measure of the “Ease of Doing Business” through a set of objective indicators that focus on the impacts of laws, regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies.
The government claimed that it has consistently been making efforts to improve business environment in the country. In previous years, almost 300 reforms have been implemented to improve investment climate in the country, it added. But the growing political uncertainty and institutional imbalances are adversely affecting the country’s perception.
