ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: 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 prime minister said that we were well aware that international investors needed stable markets backed by clear and consistent policies.
“We are committed to maintaining an enabling policy framework to attract foreign direct investment,” the prime minister said.
Nawaz Sharif said that with its sixth largest population in the World, 80 million middle class and attractive investment environment, Pakistan was a destination no global player could miss.
“Pakistan is set on track for sustainable growth,” Sharif said.
The prime minister invited them to take benefit from the economic revival of Pakistan and enjoy the first mover’s advantage.
Moreover, the prime minister said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a key regional initiative for connectivity and shared prosperity of nations. He said that apart from energy, road and rail infrastructure, industrial parks and economic zones and a state of the art Deep Sea Port at Gwadar gave CPEC the potential of changing the destiny of the people in the region and beyond.
Sharif said that the Corridor would substantially shorten transportation distances between Africa and Middle East to Central and South Asian regions. He said that the CPEC would connect Pakistan’s southern Gwadar Port to Kashghar, a City in China’s western Xinjiang region.
The prime minister said that when his government took over in 2013, the economy faced severe energy shortages, inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility and a precarious security environment. However, the government managed to stabilize the economy despite unfavorable global economic conditions.
Nawaz Shari said that from a 2 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth before 2013, the Country was projected to achieve 5.5 percent GDP growth this year. He said that the economy was targeted to grow over 8 percent between 2018 and 2025 while maintaining a single digit inflation.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that our reforms were multifaceted as we reduced bank interest rates, eliminated tax exemptions to provide a level playing field, strengthened tax administration, rationalized untargeted energy subsidies and widened society safety nets.
In addition, he said that the consumer market in Pakistan was growing at a very fast pace. He said that the consumer demand of automobiles, housing and electronics was thriving and providing considerable returns to the corporate sector. He said that the services industries particularly telecommunication, hospitality and online-retail were fast growing into attractive areas for investment.
The prime minister also referred to the boom in stock exchange and said that Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) 100 index crossed the benchmark of 50,000 recently.
