OICCI considers Pakistan ‘hidden jewel’ for investors

Its members have reinvested over $2.7b in the country in past one year

KARACHI: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) believes that with a massive population combined with rising demand and the country’s strategic and geographic importance, Pakistan is likely to be the last ‘hidden jewel’ for investors.

Despite a lacklustre economic activity during the past one year, the OICCI said its members reinvested over $2.7 billion in Pakistan during the period, which was the highest-ever injection in the past few years.



The investment by the OICCI members was almost on a par with the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of $2.8 billion in Pakistan during the same period.

In the past six years, the OICCI said, its members reinvested $10.4 billion whereas the FDI inflow in the same period remained at $11 billion, “which reflects the extreme confidence of leading foreign investors”.

“With its strategic and geographic location and rising demand, Pakistan is the last hidden jewel and it should be on every investor’s radar,” remarked OICCI President Irfan Wahab Khan.

Meanwhile, OICCI Secretary Abdul Aleem lashed out at the doom and gloom scenario painted about Pakistan, calling it unjustified.

The foreign investors’ body hosted an interactive session with media representatives in Karachi where they outlined the OICCI’s role in promoting FDI and shared views on recent economic developments affecting the FDI and the overall business environment.

The OICCI president expressed dismay over the continued poor FDI inflow into the country, but said the OICCI members continued to remain upbeat, based on their experience of operating in the country, and they had complete confidence in the economic potential of Pakistan.

Khan pointed out that looking at the demographics of the country, Pakistan had the potential to absorb at least 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in FDI as compared to less than 1% received in the past six years. He stressed that improved governance structure, solid progress on Pakistan’s position in the ‘ease of doing business’ index supported by strong economic performance through substantially higher tax collection were highly needed.



“Effective use of technology to broaden the tax base, strict enforcement, accountability and capacity building of key government functionaries are required,” he said.

The official also said federal and provincial authorities needed to join hands to attract foreign investors, who come to the country not to do business with provinces but with Pakistan.

He added that technology needed to be deployed for government services to facilitate businesses and improve the ease of doing business. Moreover, with technology, businesses could be made “fool-proof and fraud-proof”.

“There is a great opportunity for significant productivity gains through research and digitalisation in agriculture, energy and water resource management,” he said.

Aleem said Pakistan, with over 200 million population and a strong middle class of 70 million, was a highly attractive market for investors. Many international agencies have already assessed Pakistan’s retail sector as one of the fastest-growing in the world and worth approximately $150 billion.

Aleem added that despite negative news, “it is no surprise that Pakistan is on the radar of most of the potential foreign investors who value the growth opportunity in the longer term”. Quoting a recent report of HSBC, Aleem highlighted that Pakistan was poised to be among top six fastest-growing global economies by 2030, confirming a similar assessment by other reputable international agencies. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2018.

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