ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that, “Pakistan is increasingly being identified globally as a business and investor friendly country.”
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting in Islamabad to review the progress on the implementation of the Doing Business Reform Strategy 2016.
The finance secretary briefed Ishaq Dar on the reform measures being taken to cover all the ten Doing Business indicators. These indicators included starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering a property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
He also briefed the meeting on the proposed way forward for improving the country’s ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index. The finance minister directed that specific actions that are required to be taken for the purpose must be identified along with time lines.
Further, the finance minister stressed on the need for ensuring coordination with all stakeholders. He directed that every effort should be made to facilitate the foreign as well as domestic investors and businessmen.
He opined that Pakistan must take full advantage of the improvement in the economy as well as security situation.
The meeting was also attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Finance.
Meanwhile, Dar also chaired a meeting to discuss performance of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in achieving the revenue collection targets.
Chairman FBR Nisar Mohammad Khan briefed Dar about the strategy and measures being adopted for improvement in revenue collection for achieving the annual target of revenue collection assigned to FBR. The chairman said that directives have been issued to the core team members to improve collections.
Dar directed the FBR team to put in the best efforts for achieving the annual target. He emphasized the importance of enhanced revenue collection in the background of country’s need for development and for achieving higher rate of inclusive and sustainable growth.