ISLAMABAD: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), the chamber of leading 200 foreign investors in Pakistan belonging to 35 countries, has released the consolidated financial contribution of its members for the year 2019 based on feedback from 150 members, 50 being subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies and 57 listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The foreign investors have contributed significantly towards the GDP of the country and have maintained the OICCI position as the largest chamber of commerce in terms of economic contribution in the country. This comprehensive survey is being conducted annually since 2009.
Elaborating on the key features of the OICCI 2019 Annual Economic Contribution survey, Haroon Rashid, President OICCI highlighted that “we are very proud that in the past twelve months, OICCI members contributed over Rs 1.2 Trillion, or Rs five billion each working day, towards the tax revenue of Pakistan, which is approximately one third of the total tax collection in the country.
During 2019 two OICCI members paid taxes in excess of Rs 100 billion each “. The five sectors contributing over 80% of the tax revenue from OICCI members were Energy, Tobacco, FMCG & Food, Telecommunication and Banking.
“With an asset base of US $ 120 Billion,”, Secretary General, OICCI, M Abdul Aleem added ” the OICCI members maintained their position as the leading foreign investors in Pakistan during 2019 with new investments of over US $ 3 Billion mainly in the Energy, Telecom and Chemicals sectors”.
Commenting on the significant contribution of foreign investors in the economy of Pakistan, OICCI President Haroon Rashid said “OICCI members believe in Pakistan and have always been leading economic contributors to the country, however we need to take note of emerging challenges that are affecting the ability of OICCI members to keep on attracting additional investment, for example, currency devaluation”. Haroon also mentioned that “there is also growing concern among our members on the uncertain regulatory and operating environment which, if not addressed, could threaten the attractiveness of Pakistan as a destination for FDI”.
OICCI members have in the past eight years invested US$ 16 Billion, largely in the Energy, Telecom, Chemicals, Food /FMCG and Banking sectors. Besides the monetary contribution, OICCI members also play a leading role in the transfer of technology, digital transformation, introducing latest inventions and sharing of best practices in the field of manufacturing operation, supply chain and marketing of internationally renowned brands.
Moreover, OICCI members, as a group, are the largest contributor towards the social sectors. In the last one-year OICCI members contributed Rs 5.5 billion to social initiatives, benefiting 58 million people throughout the country.
In conclusion, OICCI Secretary General hoped “that the authorities will proactively and in a structured manner engage with OICCI members in the policy formulation and implementation process for better managing the economic challenges to the country”.
