Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday invited global entrepreneurs to invest in Pakistan and take advantage of its strategic location, rich human and material resources, political stability and attractive investment policy.
While addressing corporate and business leaders from around the world in Islamabad the PM said, “Pakistan with its sixth-largest population in the world, 80 million middle class and attractive investment environment is a destination no global player can miss.”
“Pakistan is set on track for sustainable growth,” he said.
The Prime Minister invited them to take benefit from the economic revival of Pakistan and enjoy the first mover’s advantage.
Nawaz Sharif said, “CPEC is a key regional initiative for connectivity and shared prosperity of the nations.”
“Apart from energy, road/rail infrastructure, industrial parks and economic zones and a state of the art Deep Sea Port at Gwadar gives CPEC the potential of changing the destiny of the people in the region and beyond,” he said.
“The corridor will substantially shorten transportation distances between Africa and the Middle East to Central and South Asian regions. CPEC would connect the port of Gwadar to Kashghar,” he added.
“The government took over the economy faced severe energy shortages, inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility and a precarious security environment,” the PM said.
“Today, the government has managed to stabilise the economy despite unfavourable global economic conditions,” he said.
He said that from a 3 per cent GDP growth before 2013, the country is projected to achieve 5.5 per cent GDP growth this year. The fiscal deficit has been brought down to 4.2 per cent and tax to GDP ratio increased to 12.4 per cent. The economy is targeted to grow by 8 per cent between 2018 and 2025 while maintaining single digit inflation.
The Prime Minister said, “Our reforms are multifaceted as we reduced bank interest rates, eliminated tax exemptions to provide a level playing field, strengthened tax administration, rationalised untargeted energy subsidies and widened society safety nets.”
“We are well aware that international investors need stable markets backed by clear and consistent policies,” he said.
“We are committed to maintaining an enabling policy framework to attract foreign direct investment,” he added.
PM Nawaz said, “The consumer market in Pakistan is growing at a very fast pace. The demand for automobiles, housing and electronics is thriving and providing considerable returns to the corporate sector.”
“The services industries particularly telecommunication, hospitality and online-retail are fast growing into attractive areas for investment,” he said.
The prime minister also referred to the boom in the stock exchange and said PSE 100 index crossed the benchmark of 50, 000 recently.
The corporate leaders are visiting Pakistan to explore the prospects of the business and seeing the most beautiful areas in the world, located in the north of the country.
