In Pakistan, Board of Investment chairman resigns

Zubair Gilani is third BOI chairman who has resigned in past almost 18 months

ISLAMABAD: Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Zubair Gilani has stepped down after the government asked him to resign due to his lack of administrative skills.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had appointed Gilani as the BOI chairman eight months ago while preferring him over Naeem Zameendar. A brief statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said, “BOI Chairman Zubair Gilani has resigned due to personal reasons.”

However, sources told The Express Tribune that Gilani sent his resignation on Friday after he was asked to step down from the position first by Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and then by the prime minister.

The Express Tribune contacted Dawood and Gilani for their versions but both of them did not respond till the filing of the story.

Gilani was the third BOI chairman who resigned in the past almost 18 months and the second appointed by PM Imran. Earlier, the PM had appointed Haroon Sharif as the BOI chairman in September 2018 but he too could survive only for eight months in office.

BOI is responsible for the promotion of investment opportunities and has a key role in ensuring ease of doing business and the setting up of prioritised Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

It is also mandated to diversify the investor base by focusing on information technology, food processing, value-added textile, hospitality and tourism sectors.

But no major breakthrough has been achieved in these sectors in the past one and a half year.

There were numerous complaints against Gilani and he was also bypassing Adviser Dawood, said the sources. The outgoing BOI chairman was also accused of annoying foreign investors and some foreign diplomats, including the ambassador of a most friendly country of Pakistan.

According to sources, it is likely that the new chairman will be appointed this time with the consent of Dawood. Among the probable names were Atif Bokhari and Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.

The government has not been able to put together a competent team in the BOI. It has also replaced three secretaries of BOI.

Sources said the outgoing BOI chairman could not build a working relationship in his organisation.

Pakistan has also not been able to make any significant headway to cash in on the opportunity provided by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who had announced $20 billion worth of investment during his high-profile visit to Pakistan, a major chunk of which would go into an oil refinery.

Foreign direct investment in Pakistan increased 66% to $1.6 billion in the first seven months of current fiscal year against $944 million in the same period of previous year. However, the surge in foreign direct investment was because of one-off payment of $456 million in licence fee by the telecom operators.

The investment decreased in manufacturing, construction, finance and other major sectors of the economy. There was an increase in investment in the mining sector in seven months of the current fiscal year.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2020.

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