Pakistan listed among 'Top 20 improvers in Doing Business 2020' by World Bank

[Khalil Ibrahim]

Pakistan was listed among the World Bank's list of 'Top-20 improvers in Doing Business 2020', it emerged on Friday.

According to the World Bank, Pakistan has improved in six areas measured by 'Doing Business', which are: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders.

The World Bank's Doing Business project "provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level".

As per the 2020 listing, Pakistan's improvement in the six areas is a reflection of "the country's development of an ambitious reform strategy, including the establishment of a national secretariat and prime minister's reform steering committee".


In association with the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh, the Board of Investment (BoI) in October 2018 had launched the '100 Days – Sprint-III’ to ‘Doing Business Reforms Plan' aimed at facilitating businesses and improving the investment climate.

The World Bank stated that Pakistan had made the process of starting a business easier by "expanding procedures available through the online one-stop shop".

Additionally, it said that along with improvements in property registration, the process of obtaining a construction permit had also been made easier. The listing said that this was because the Sindh Building and Control Authority (SBCA) and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) had "streamlined approval workflows and improved the operational efficiency of their one-stop shops".

"The launching of online portals for new commercial connections made getting electricity easier, and tariff changes are announced in advance," it stated.

According to the listing, tax compliance had also been made easier through online payment modules for value added tax and for corporate income tax. Additionally, the corporate income tax rate had been lowered.

"Pakistan made trading across borders easier by enhancing the integration of various agencies into an electronic system and by improving coordination of joint physical inspections at the port," it added.

According to 'Top-20 improvers in Doing Business 2020', India had made it easier to do business in four areas while China, also included in the listing, had "implemented reforms" in eight areas.

Pakistan listed among 'Top 20 Improvers in Doing Business 2020' by World Bank

Pakistan's improvement in the six areas is a reflection of "the country's development of an ambitious reform strategy".

www.dawn.com

 

[Badshakhan]

Welldone pakistan ?

 

[Ratan]

Good going PTI govt. Keep it up.

 

[MrLad01]

Good job ??

 

[Pathfinder]

Good, but the situation on the ground really needs to transform quickly. One thing is the bau types you have in Pakistan who come and say what do we get out of it! These leeches,murder them destroy their families.

Look take a cue from China on how to revolutionize industry. I know they want to help so take their help and move forward.

 

[chandaa]

Where economy was left by Daku Sharif, Pakistan would have bankrupted and that was the plan of Zar and Shar. Imran Khan's efforts are restoring the economy, the enemies using their last card Fazlu swine to derail the country but I believe Fazlu swine will be locked up for rest of his life! Still lot more need to be done to generate more wealth in the country.

 

[Imran the legend]

Finally acknowledges some of Islamabad's initiatives with regard to ease of doing business

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has listed Pakistan among the top 20 countries that introduced reforms in ease of doing business after the bank finally acknowledged some of initiatives that were undertaken early last year but were not fully appreciated in the previous report.

“With six reforms, Pakistan emerges among top 20 reformers globally in ease of doing business,” tweeted World Bank’s Country Director to Pakistan Patchamuthu Illangovan also known as Illango on Friday.

Ilango also appreciated the collective actions taken by the governments in the Centre and Punjab and Sindh provinces. The actual ranking, based on these reforms, will be announced on October 24 when the World Bank would release its latest edition of Ease of Doing Business Index report.

The acknowledgement of reforms by the World Bank have rekindled hopes for major improvement in Pakistan’s ranking that currently stands at 136th among the club of 190 nations.

“We now expect our biggest jump in the World Bank ranking on ease of doing business,” said Secretary Commerce Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera, who has worked on the ranking in his capacity as the Board of Investment secretary.

In October last year, Pakistan had jumped up 11 places on the Ease of Doing Business Index and clinched 136th position — for the first time in 15 years. But still the 136th ranking was below the country’s expectations that had expected better place.

Out of nine reforms, the World Bank had acknowledged only three reforms last year due to adverse opinion given by the surveyors in Lahore and Karachi. Out of the remaining six reforms that had been introduced between January and June 2018, the World Bank has now acknowledged four reforms.

Last year, Pakistan had carried out three reforms in the areas of starting a business, registering property and resolving insolvency. The reforms that were not fully appreciated last year were in areas of getting electricity, securing construction permits, getting credit, paying taxes and trading across borders.

This year Pakistan improved in six areas —starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, paying taxes and trading across borders, said the World Bank.
It said these reforms have reflected the country’s development of an ambitious reform strategy including the establishment of national secretariat and Prime Minister’s reform steering committee.

The World Bank said Pakistan has made starting a business easier by expanding procedures available through the online one-stop shop.

In addition to improvements in property registration, obtaining a construction permit became easier after the Sindh Building Control Authority and the Lahore Development Authority streamlined approval workflows and improved the operational efficiency of their one-stop shops.

The launching of online portals for new commercial connections has made getting electricity easier, and tariff changes are announced in advance. Moreover, tax compliance has become easier through online payment modules for value added tax and corporate income tax, and a lower corporate income tax rate.

Pakistan has also made trading across borders easier by enhancing the integration of various agencies into an electronic system and by improving coordination of joint physical inspections at the port.

The Ease of Doing Business Index is mostly used as a guide by foreign investors to learn more about a country, aiding decisions on pouring money into the economy India and Bangladesh are two other countries in the region that have introduced more reforms in this year.

India made it easier to do business in four areas measured by Doing Business. Authorities in Mumbai and New Delhi made it easier to obtain construction permits by allowing the submission of labour inspector commencement and completion notifications through a single-window clearance system.

Bangladesh made it easier for entrepreneurs to start a business, obtain an electrical connection and access credit. Among other initiatives, it lowered the name clearance fee for new company registration, abolished digital certification fees and reduced registration fee calculations based on share capital.
Source

 

[Ratan]

The outcome of reforms. Things are started to tuning out positively.
Thanks, IK & PTI for taking up bold steps of reforms.