Govt determined to get Companies Ordinance 2016 passed

Ordinance will require companies to disclose assets held outside the country

KARACHI: The government is determined to get the Companies Ordinance 2016 passed by the joint session of parliament to convert it into a law that would require companies to disclose their assets outside the country, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday.

Last week, the Senate with a majority vote rejected the ordinance, claiming it would be a big blow to registered companies. However, the ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has a majority in the lower house of parliament.

Speaking during his visit to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), Dar said, “I know two sections in the ordinance are painful for those opposing it…the section about maintenance of global assets demands companies to disclose their assets outside Pakistan.”

The ordinance has been updated in the backdrop of Panama Papers leaks to address the opposition’s concerns. “I want the opposition to highlight all their concerns to improve it to the level of best law,” he said.



He regretted the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) move of issuing 45,000 notices to companies to bind them to disclose their global assets.

“SECP has issued the notices without consulting me. This has caused panic among businessmen in Karachi. I had nothing to do with that and businessmen were right to show their concern,” he added.

“Instead of bringing them to justice, we want to give them a chance to fix themselves,” said the minister.

Earlier, President Mamnoon Hussain approved the ordinance on November 11, 2016.

“I know the law would induce international best practices and improve transparency standards,” Dar added.

Earlier, this government had gotten the PIA company ordinance approved in the same way it is doing now with Company Ordinance 2016, he said.

Dar said that according to a study 25 million people in the country are in need of micro financing. For this purpose, the government has transformed Pakistan Poverty-alleviation Fund (PPF) into Pakistan Micro Finance Investment Company.



“This will serve 10 million people in the next three years as compared to four million people in the last three years,” he said.

Power outages end in 2018

Meanwhile, Dar also claimed “there will be zero load-shedding by the end of this year.”

The government is not just trying to overcome the existing shortfall of 5,000-6,000 megawatts. “We will add 10,000 megawatts by March 2018,” he said.

He added that another 15,000 megawatts would be in the pipeline, as the government is working on mega power projects like Dasu, Tarbela-4, Tarbela-5, Karachi nuclear power project of 2,117MW and Chashma-4 projects.

Claiming to win the next election too, he said, “we will add 25,000MW between 2018 and 2020.”

People have calculated Pakistan's default in June 2014. When this government took over in 2013, the forex reserves were less than $4 billion. The reserves could meet only three weeks import.

“Today we have over five months import bills reserves. This is a symbol of our confidence. We will pay back $500 million to China on Monday (January 23), which the country has taken in 2009.”

This government has given [amnesty] schemes to traders and real estate sector to address issues in the economy.

“We are also working on one more such scheme that I have recently discussed with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI),” he added.