Govt mulls diaspora fund to attract investment from overseas Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: Government has planned a diaspora fund to raise investments from overseas Pakistanis in infrastructure and small and medium enterprise sector’s development, a top official said on Friday.

Haroon Sharif, chairman of Board of Investment (BOI) said Prime Minister Imran Khan held a meeting with Finance Minister Asad Umar, Advisor to PM on Commerce Razzaq Dawood, Barrister Farogh Naseem, Chairman BOI, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue Jahanzeb Khan and other officials.

Sharif briefed the Prime Minister about ‘Naya Pakistan Diaspora Fund’ which is to support small and medium enterprises and rural development in key areas of education, health and infrastructure development.

He also apprised the premier of the investment framework which has been structured to attract and materialise investment from United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arab, China, Japan and Malaysia.

Chairman BOI told The News that Prime Minister also decided to have meetings with the provincial chief ministers and other top officials to discuss barriers in investment into special economic zones and other relevant issues of simplifying and consolidation of taxes.

Prime Minister Khan, while taking ownership and keen interest in improving ease of doing business and removing hurdles to the investment, decided to take every month a briefing from the BOI.

PM assured that he would leave no stone unturned for attracting investors in the country and providing them a peaceful and easy

environment to do business in the country.

The premier directed chairman BOI to present a comprehensive plan, listing all issues in various sectors and their sub-sectors and how the processes could be streamlined to simplify procedures related to government approvals, taxation issues, and dispute resolution.

Chairman BOI said ease of doing business is one part of the overall picture.

“We discussed how to bring 47 types of taxes down to at least 14,” he added. “PM agreed to remove hurdles to investment in Pakistan as a whole.”

Sharif told the meeting that the Board of Investment would be serving as an agent of change to facilitate business transactions, remove impediments in a way to materialisation of investors’ interest into actual investments and smooth functioning of the businesses in the country.

“We also discussed various issues being faced by the business community, including taxation,

access to finance, regulation and policy issues and red-tapism,” he said.

Chairman BOI said the board is actively working with the provinces and relevant ministries to remove barriers in the way of establishing special economic zones.

Special efforts are being made to bridge the gap between private and public sectors and to reach out to the private sector to revive their confidence in government policies and put in place a framework that facilitates business community in its business pursuits.