A huge investment prospect has arisen for the country as Saudi company ARAMCO has shown its willingness to invest Rs 100 million in Pakistan which would be a milestone in breaking ice regarding foreign direct investment(FDI).
The investment from Saudi company, will also have a positive impact on the economy. ARAMCO is an international firm dealing with the energy sector and it wants to expand its business worldwide and it is an opening for Pakistan to grab this golden opportunity.
After the investment from ARAMCO, it is hoped that more foreign investment would come to Pakistan, but to achieve this target, the country would have to reform its economic policy and improve strategy.
Though the first step has been taken in this direction with the formation of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), however to fulfil its objectives, the measures from the government side are the need of the hour.
In this regard, well organized and unchanged fiscal policies are extremely important that could win the confidence of foreign investors to attract investment in the country. It is the demand of the time that the government should focus on bringing direct foreign investment and enhancing exports to streamline the economy in the right direction. The boost-up of the industry in Pakistan would not only cause growth in the production but also reduce the unemployment from the country.
In the past several times such efforts were made to bring foreign investment but the energy crises, high fuel prices and the deteriorating law and order situation remained the main hindrance in its way. Pakistan is among those unfortunate countries where the cost of doing business is so high due to which the investors seem to be reluctant to invest capital here, as a matter of fact, Pakistan has no business friendly policies at all. One more factor which would be very vital for the investors are the corrupt practices in the tax system as well as other relevant government organizations that haunts the foreign investors. Many international investors had been ready to invest in Pakistan in the past but due to these factors, the investment seemed to be shy to swell here.
Now it is the task of the Special Investment Facilitation Council to remove these kinds of hurdles and legal bottlenecks. But for this purpose serious behavior and focused attitude is needed because it is the track record of the country that any national functionary that is formed under special initiatives, kick off its work with great deal of enthusiasm, but after passage of sometime, its performance was not seen anywhere for the reason that they used to work as a routine as other public sector department do. SFIC would have to find out of box solutions to change the fiscal policies and reduce the price of fuel as well as the cost of starting business in Pakistan to attract the foreign direct investment.
The investment is the only way that can run the halted wheel of the industry. This time, if the government would not show some seriousness in the matter, then the economy of the country would further linger on and the nation would be the ultimate sufferers.