PRIME Minister Imran Khan, on Wednesday, chaired meetings aimed at ensuring ease of doing business, check rising prices and provide relief to the common man. He issued directions for removal of unnecessary hurdles in the way of doing business, cutting of red-tape, abolition of discretionary powers of bureaucracy and sought report on prices of items of daily use.
The directions that the Prime Minister gave were long overdue as there was general impression that doing business in Pakistan was becoming a complicated and difficult process because of prevailing environment and policies of the Government. Reports from across the country speak of no worthwhile local and foreign investment and confidence of the business community has badly been shaken due to recent measures announced in the federal budget. The decision to remove unnecessary legalities, rules and regulations that create obstacles in the way of growth of business and commerce would go a long way in making things easier for those seeking to set up any business as at present they have to knock at the doors of various agencies and departments to seek this and that NoC or approval. There are also legitimate complaints that these so-called laws, rules and regulations are used as a shield for palm-greasing and in the process many potential investors run away in disgust. It is a sorry state of affairs that the successive governments announced simplification of procedures and requirements for investment and setting up businesses but practically we have not moved away much from complicated and tricky procedures. While appreciating the spirit with which the Prime Minister has issued directions, we would, however, urge that the real change would occur only if these instructions result into practical measures. Hopefully, the Prime Minister would continue taking personal interest and seek reports from ministries and departments concerned for identification of hurdles and their early removal. At the same time, it may also be pointed out that procedures are not the only hurdles in the way of growth of businesses as related policies are also impacting upon the overall environment. Business community is of the view that it was not possible for it to do business when the State Bank of Pakistan raises interest rate every now and then on pretexts that have failed to have any salutary impact on the economy. Similarly, how is it possible for the businesses to flourish when prices of POL products and electricity and gas tariff are hiked frequently and these have reached to unsustainable levels. There are also actions by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that discourage entrepreneurs to make any investment in Pakistan for fear of being victimized on political or some other basis. The Prime Minister had a point when on several occasions in the past he reiterated the need to allow people to make money as this stimulates economic activity and leads to job generation. However, practically different policies of the Government ran contrary to this philosophy that has the potential to resolve economic vows of the country if implemented in true spirit. Greater use of IT, as pointed out by the Premier, can also result in greater transparency and efficiency. Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has contributed a lot in promoting the IT culture in governance and its services can be utilized to expand the scope in Punjab and introduce similar processes at the Centre and other provinces. The directions of the Prime Minister about checking price-hike are also welcome but the phenomenon has much to do with the policies of the Government. There is, of course, trend on the part of the business community to exploit the situation and create artificial price hike but an analysis of the market position would show that various steps taken by the Government have increased burden on the common man. Apart from food items that should have been spared of taxes and duties as was done in the past, there was need to provide incentives to sectors like construction and IT and telecom but sadly enough tax burden on them has also gone up and as a consequence the construction cost, in particular, has jumped significantly. The Government, therefore, needs to adopt a holistic approach to promote investment and check inflation if it is really serious to do so. Some compromises will have to be made for the sake of economic growth, employment generation and provision of relief to the masses.
