Pakistan has gained top ranking amongst its South Asian competitors according to the IFC-World Bank's Ease of Doing Business 2010 report. The report ranks 183 economies around the world based on 10 indicators of business regulation that record the time and cost of meeting government requirements in starting and operating a business, trading across borders, paying taxes and closing a business.
Pakistan is currently ranked at 85 out of 183 countries ahead of China (ranked 89), India (ranked 133), Russia (ranked 120), and Brazil (ranked 129). Over the past year Pakistan has started an online registration system for sales tax and lifted a requirement for a document that has reduced the time taken to register a business by four days.
For the fourth year in a row, Singapore was ranked the top economy globally, New Zealand as runner-up and Hong Kong and USA ranked third and fourth respectively. Pakistan has a liberal investment policy and has successfully attracted a large pool of foreign investors.
With recession in the United States and Europe, two of the world's largest investment magnets, foreign investors have started looking at a number of South Asian and east Asian countries for generating greater returns. With dedicated focus towards liberalisation of policy reforms, deregulation and transparency of investment policies, Pakistan has proved to be a safe haven for both local and foreign investment.
"Strategically located in the heart of Asia, Pakistan has access to all the growing markets of the world," says Saleem H. Mandviwalla, Chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI). "In order to capitalise on its strategic location, Pakistan has adopted a liberal investor friendly policy, broad features of which include, proactive facilitation and guarantees of equal treatment of both local and foreign investors, easy tariff structures and a liberal regime on repatriation of profits," he added.
The development of a Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and a new initiative to revamp Pakistan's Board of Investment into a one stop shop for investors are top priority for the current year and significant development has been made towards achieving these goals. Furthermore, BoI is closely working with UNCTAD to launch its f-regulations system in Pakistan, which will bring further transparency in business procedures.