Tax havens and tax relief fascinate investors all over the world and they invest in a place where there is peace and security. As bees know where to find honey, the investors are attracted to safe havens and recent uproar in the country about offshore companies speak of the volume of the truth. The countries which want to attract investments have to make procedures for east of doing business. According to the latest World Bank Group’s Doing Business report, Pakistan has emerged as one of the top 10 improvers this year with regard to the ease of doing business for small and medium-sized enterprises. Under the latest methodology, the country’s rank in the ease of doing business index has improved by four points to reached 144 out of 190 economies this year thanks to the reforms programme announced by the government. Pakistan was at 148th position last year.The world rating institutions regard Pakistan as the frontier economy, ready to achieve the status of emerging economy. The country’s ‘distance to frontier’ score has reached 100, showing an improvement from 49.48 to 51.77 this year.
According to official sources, the government has launched a three-year programme to improve its ranking in ease of doing business and has finished a three-reform agenda to streamline the real estate sector and enhance across border trade. However, the recent tension with Afghanistan and India has severely affected Pakistan’s trade with the two countries. The hostile posture adopted by the two neighbours is neither in the interest of the regional nor of the global peace. The two countries have recently bulldozed the efforts of regional peace by refusing to participate in the Saarc heads of state moot in Islamabad.
In documentation, the procedure to transfer property has been simplified in Lahore, but on practical terms, corruption is rampant and the sector is still ruled by low grade revenue officials. If this state of affairs continues, the country will have a long way to go to turn itself into a vibrant economy. According to the colonial legacy, every citizen is a suspect and tough laws are necessary to fix the evil in the bud. However, this trend concentrates all the official powers into the hands of bureaucracy and an unending vicious circle of corruption and mismanagement starts. There is a need to enact flexible laws and minimum authority should be vested in the government officials to stop them from doing harm to any business and trade activities. Tough laws will keep away not only the local investors, but also foreign entrepreneurs. As the dust of political chaos has subsided, the government should concentrate on bringing drastic changes in the investment laws.
