ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Pakistan did not introduce any reforms in 2007-08 to reduce regulatory burden on doing business as it ranked 77th among 181 world economies in providing an environment conducive to investment.
This is part of findings of the World Bank’s global report on Doing Business 2009 released here on Wednesday.
“No reforms were recorded in Pakistan this year,” the report said, adding the country occupied 74th position last year and slid three slots since then.
Karim O. Belayachi, co-author of the report, in a videoconference from Washington said the best thing for Pakistan would be to lower cost to formally register business. Doing Business ranks economies on the basis of 10 indicators of business regulation that track the time and cost to meet government requirements in starting and operating business, trading across borders, paying taxes and closing a business.
Pakistan is placed at 93rd position on dealing with construction permits due to high number of days involved in the procedure. A businessman has to spend more than seven months or 223 days to get a construction permit. To transfer property from one business entity to another, as many as 50 days are required that consumes precious time, says the report.
Overall, Pakistan grabbed 97th place on registering property indicator.
On a question, one of the authors of the report said by reducing administrative cost of doing business, the countries that are facing problem of high electricity cost could reduce at least one barricade to the business. The report coincided with about 40 per cent increase in power tariff for industrial consumers and would be accounted for in the next report.
Karim O Belayachi said past five years experience showed that the governments brought more reforms when they were under pressure, especially under financial difficulties.
“The government commitment is most important in both, home grown or donor-assisted reforms,” he said and added, reforms in doing business were straightforward and could easily be applicable anywhere.
Sri Lanka was the best reformer among the South Asia region. Singapore, New Zealand and the United States, in that order, are the three top performers among 181 countries.
Pakistan got the highest position in South Asia on protecting investors, scoring 24th position.
“Pakistan has done tremendous job in protecting investors,” said Karim Belayachi.
Pakistan was the worst performer in enforcing contracts where it stood at 154th number. It takes 32 months or 976 days in contracts’ enforcement. Employing workers was the second worst and paying taxes was the third worst indicator for Pakistan. A businessman needs 47 days or 560 hours to pay his taxes in a calendar year. The report says total tax rate, as percentage of profit in Pakistan is 28.9 per cent.
The country performed moderately on getting credit indicator and scored 59th position. Trading across the borders indicator won 71st place for Pakistan. On the last indicator, closing a business, Pakistan is placed at 53rd position. It takes about three years to shut a running business. The recovery rate in Pakistan is measured at 39.2 cents per dollar.
