Investment in Pakistan

Why Invest in Pakistan?

Ease of Doing Business:
TOP RANKED COUNTRIES IN THE REGION FOR "EASE OF DOING BUSINESS 2012"

Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1 - 183, with first place being the highest. The ease of doing business index averages the economy's percentile rankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings are from the Doing Business 2012: The World Bank recognized Pakistan, 105th rank in Ease of Doing Business, while the 90th rank in starting a business in the world, in its annual 'Doing Business' report. The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. Higher rankings indicate better, usually simpler, regulations for businesses and stronger protections of property rights. The index is based on the study of laws and regulations, with the input and verification by more than 5,000 government officials, lawyers, business consultants, accountants and other professionals who routinely advise on or administer legal and regulatory requirements. The Ease of Doing Business index is meant to measure regulations directly affecting businesses. A nation's ranking on the index is based on the average of 10 subindices:

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M.B.A.2nd (G)

Investment in Pakistan
1. Starting a business - Procedures, time, cost and minimum capital to open a new business. 2. Dealing with licenses - Procedures, time and cost of business inspections and licensing (construction industry).

3. Hiring and firing workers - Difficulty of hiring index, rigidity of hours of index, difficulty of firing index, hiring cost and firing cost. 4. Registering property - Procedures, time and cost to register commercial real estate. 5. Getting credit - Strength of legal rights index, depth of credit information index. 6. Protecting investors - Indices on the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits. 7. Paying taxes - Number of taxes paid, hours per year spent preparing tax returns and total tax payable as share of gross profit. 8. Trading across borders - Number of documents, number of signatures and time necessary to export and import. 9. Enforcing contracts - Procedures, time and cost to enforce a debt contract. 10. Closing a business - Time and cost to close down a business, and recovery rate.

5 Key Reasons To Invest In Pakistan

Reason - 1: Geo-strategic Location Located in the heart of Asia, Pakistan is the gateway to the energy rich Central Asian States, the financially liquid Gulf States and the economically advanced Far Eastern tigers. This strategic advantage alone makes Pakistan a marketplace teeming with possibilities. Reason - 2: Trained Workforce A large part of the workforce is proficient in English, hardworking and intelligent. Pakistan possesses a large pool of trained and experienced engineers, bankers, lawyers and other professionals with many having substantial international experience.

Reason - 3: Economic Outlook Pakistan is one of the fastest growing economies of the world having touched a GDP growth rate of 8.4% in 2005. Today Pakistan has over 170 million consumers with an ever growing middle class. Foreign Direct investment has risen sharply from an average of $300 million in the 1990s to over $3.7 billion in 2008-09. Fiscal deficit has declined from an average 7% of GDP in the 1990s to around 3% in recent years. And FOREX reserves have increased from $3.22 billion in 2000-01 to $11.6 billion in June 2009.

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M.B.A.2nd (G)

Investment in Pakistan

Reason - 4: Investment Policies Current investment policies have been tailor made to suit investor needs. Pakistan's policy trends have been consistent, with liberalization, de-regulation, privatisation, and facilitation being its foremost cornerstones. Reason - 5: Financial Markets The capital markets are being modernized, and reforms have resulted in development of improved infrastructure in the stock exchanges of the country. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has improved the regulatory environment of the stock exchanges, corporate bond market and the leasing sector. Whilst the Federal Board of Revenue has facilitated structural reform in tax and tariffs and the State Bank of Pakistan has invigorated the banking sector into high returns on investment.

Investment Opportunities:
There are a lot of opportunities in following sectors: Agriculture Sector Energy Sector Manufacturing Sector Mineral-Based Industry Real Estate Services Tourism

Attractive Investment Packages

Investment Policies:
Policy Parameters Manufacturing Sector Non -Manufacturing Sectors Agriculture Infrastructure & Social Services including IT & Telecom Services

Govt. Permission

Not required except 4 Not required except specific licenses from concerned agencies. specified industries *

Remittance of capital, profits, Allowed dividends, etc. Upper Limit of foreign 100% equity allowed Minimum Investment No Amount (M $)

Allowed

100%

100%

100%

0.3 0.3

0.15

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M.B.A.2nd (G)

Investment in Pakistan

Customs duty on 5% import of PME Tax relief (IDA, % of 50% PME cost)

0-5% 0% 5%

50%

No restriction Royalty & for payment of Allowed as per guidelines - Initial lump-sum upto $100,000 - Max Rate 5% of net sales - Initial Technical royalty & period 5 years Fee technical fee.

* Specified Industries: - Arms and ammunitions - High Explosives. - Radioactive substances - Security Printing, Currency and Mint. No new unit for the manufacturing of alcohol, except, industrial alcohol PME= Plant, Machinery and Equipment IDA= Initial Depreciation Allowance

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M.B.A.2nd (G)