WASHINGTON: The world’s leading news channel, Bloomberg News, has lauded Pakistan’s economic progress, saying that the country’s expanding economy and cheapest borrowing costs was making investors look at it as a lucrative destination for investment.
The report title “In the ‘Best Hidden’ Frontier Market, a Boom Signals a Pakistan Revival,” said that in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi, at least half a dozen commercial projects were springing up as developers including Dubai’s Emaar Properties, PJSC and local tycoons boosted investment in construction.
The construction booms followed the recent revival in economy after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif averted a balance of payment crisis, with the help of IMF, soon after he took over the charge of the country in 2013.
The report noted that Prime Minister Nawaz was boosting spending on infrastructure and the economy expanded at the fastest pace since 2008. The country’s borrowing rates are also among the cheapest, encouraging businessmen to boost investment. “It is the best, undiscovered investment opportunity in emerging or frontier markets,” Charlie Robertson, London-based chief economist at Renaissance Capital Ltd, was quoted as saying by the Bloomberg.
“What’s changed is the delivery of reforms – privatisation, an improved fiscal picture and good relations with the IMF.” The benchmark KSE 100 stock index has advanced about 16 per cent in the past 12 months, featuring among the world’s top 10performers. DG Khan Cement Co. and Cherat Cement Co. had announced expansion plans, while steelmakers were selling shares, the report added.
In April, Asia’s biggest economy, China, signed deals for $28 billion of investments in Pakistan as part of a planned $45 billion economic corridor that includes power plants and dams. The development in cities and smaller towns was trickling down and a good news for smaller contractors as well, the report added.
