Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Tariq Pasha informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance the other day that a host of unidentified Pakistanis have purchased $8 billion worth of property in Dubai during the last four years.The chairman also said that there is no agreement between the two countries to obtain details of the investment made by Pakistanis and the UAE authorities are also reluctant to share any information in this regard.However, the committee, instead of impressing upon the government to devise investment friendly policies in the country, forwarded the matter to the Federal Investigation Agency.
The point to ponder for the government policymakers is that why the Pakistani investors find Dubai real estate market attractive to the extent that they dump their money in it despite risks. How many years they will need to learn the intricacies of business management and why have they failed to utilize their knowledge of English language — for which they spend their entire life to learn — to resolve the pressing issues to the economy? At least they should learn to admit their faults and failures both in policymaking and its implementation. It also proves that Arabs have better understanding of business than Pakistanis as they have made the desert an attractive destination for investment not only for Pakistanis but also for the rest of the world.
As a matter of fact Gwadar holds better geographical location than Dubai, but it is still at the lowest ebb in terms of foreign direct investment despite billions of dollars investment from China. Pakistan can step into the first world in a few years but we are refusing to accept bitter realities of business management. The policymakers, who bag millions of rupees annual salaries and perks, seemed to have no wisdom or reasons to devise economic policies and are only spending their service tenure without any interest in the official business. A policy is prepared on war footings with all sincerity and honesty but only one irrational point in it spoils and bulldozes the whole show.
Ironically, in the current situation, the State Bank officials told the committee that no investors approached them for proper permission to invest in Dubai. Either the officials are naïve or they need to grow up further. In a country, where you have to choose a wrong method to get a legal work done, how do you expect anyone with black money will approach you for permission?
