Concrete efforts in hand to achieve sustainable and inclusive higher growth: Dar

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Ishaq Dar writes Senate chairman he is willing to take oath as Senator via video-link

WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan was fast improving ease of doing business in the country. After having achieved macroeconomic stability, the Govt. was now making concrete efforts to achieve sustainable and inclusive higher growth, he added.

The Minister was addressing members of US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) at US Chamber of Commerce at Washington.

The present Government was committed to ensuring transparency in all sectors of the economy and for this it was working closely with international organizations. For the Govt. bringing good governance through transparency and fighting against corruption & tax evasion was a serious business, Dar emphasized.

Ishaq Dar apprised the audience that international rating of Pakistan had improved from negative to positive during the span of last four years. Our Stock Market has emerged as 5th best performer in the world which clearly indicated that Pakistan had huge potential for investment. Pakistan had so far introduced 24 laws to make the environment business friendly where as ten more such laws were in the making, Dar said.

While stating that Pakistan and the US had long history of strong bilateral relations particularly in the arena of trade, business & social development, Minister Dar urged the US investors to take advantage of the tremendous investment opportunities coming up in Pakistan. He informed the participants that international Companies must consider relocating their manufacturing operations to Pakistan as the country had abundant supply of cheap labour and provided convenient access to very large regional market.

Presently, Pakistan was offering low interest rate and was in the process of setting up Pakistan Infrastructure Bank led by IFC to provide capital for infrastructural development to the private sector. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar added that financial & digital inclusion of Pakistani population was among top priorities of the Govt.

The event was attended by the representatives of large US Multinationals including GE, Boeing, LockHeed Martin, Proctor & Gamble, Monsanto, ExxonMobil, Motorola, Uber, Cocacola and others who greatly appreciated the robust improvement in economic & business environment in Pakistan.