LAHORE: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has termed corruption a main hurdle in foreign investment and economic growth.
Speaking to the business community here at FPCCI, he said, “Corruption is the mother of all evils. It has very negative effects on people, society and economy. Therefore, NAB has prioritized education, awareness and prevention over enforcement to bring a positive change in the society,” he reasoned.
FPCCI President Abdur Rauf Alam, UBG Chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik, UBG’s candidate for the presidency of Apex Chamber Zubair Tufail and others were also present on the occasion.
The NAB Chairman informed that the bureau had chalked out a comprehensive National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) under which Rs278 billion had already been recovered and deposited in the national exchequer.
He opined corruption was more prevalent in developing countries as compared to the developed ones, and it adversely impacted society, governance and youth. “It is a big challenge to cope with,” he admitted.
“Transparency International had dropped Pakistan’s ranking in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) from 175 to 126 in 2014, and in 2015 the ranking further went down from 126 to 117, which is a great achievement,” Chaudhry said, and added, “Ranking of other regional countries remained static or declined.”
On the occasion, FPCCI President Abdur Rauf Alam said corruption had very negative consequences, including reduced foreign investment, delay in growth, lack of development and reduced trust in the system.
“Corruption makes production, imports and exports costly, resulting in trade deficit,” he said, and quickly added, “But if it is minimized, then the country will have less trade deficits in terms of exports and imports with other countries and their economies can prosper.”
Alam said that the trust of international community in Pak economy was reviving for which credit went to the government as well as to the anti-corruption initiatives by NAB.
