Pakistan gears up to improve ease of doing business ranking

ISLAMABAD: As the federal government goes for a final check on ‘ease of doing business’ indicators at a national level prior to the World Bank team’s arrival, all the agencies have been tasked to complete relevant reforms before April 30, 2019, a statement said on Thursday.

These directions were issued by Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries & Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood during a high-level review meeting on the ‘ease of doing business’ reforms agenda in Board of Investment (BoI) office.

The adviser, the statement said, stressed on the importance of improving the business climate and reiterated that close coordination among government departments played a crucial role in efficient and transparent facilitation.

Dawood also pointed up that being his number-one priority Prime Minister Imran Khan regularly reviewed the progress on ‘ease of doing business’ reforms.

The Prime Minister has already chaired a number of review meetings and next meeting is expected shortly with participation of all relevant federal secretaries and the provincial chief secretaries, the adviser said.

Haroon Sharif, chairman BoI, highlighted that Pakistan had improved its ranking by 11 points and moved from 147th/190 to 136th/190 in doing business rankings of 2019.

Sharif appreciated the implementation of reforms and insisted that a continuous effort from all provincial and federal government departments was required. He also lauded the assistance of World Bank Group as Business climate reform partner.

The BoI chairman also said the government was pushing the reforms agenda that would transform the business climate in the country.

The approach of all government departments, provincial and federal, was important for efficient implementation of reforms, Sharif added.

Fareena Mazhar, executive director general BoI, briefed the participants about the reforms that had been implemented.

Fareena mentioned that the reform update was being submitted to World Bank Group, as it was an important document that contributed to the improvement of ‘ease of doing business’ ranking.

Later on, the officials from all government agencies shared the implementation status of their respective agencies. The adviser expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the agencies.