LCCI welcomes approval of new investment policy

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that the approval of New Investment Policy (NIP) and a five-year strategy to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that has come down to around $800m from $5.4b is a welcome sign but a Herculean Task in the presence of growing energy shortages, high credit costs, security concerns and frequent policy changes.
The LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar in a statement on Friday said that the government would have to address the energy issue on priority basis to the satisfaction of local investors before eyeing the much needed foreign investment. And to bring the economy out of woods, he said, the government would have to introduce a whole new implementation mechanism.
A number of economic issues, the country has been facing for quite long, are now only because of non-implementation of policies. "Had Electricity Theft (Amendment) Bill 2012 been implemented in letter and spirit, the energy situation would have been quite encouraging today" he said.
Farooq Iftikhar said that Pakistan is still considered a more attractive country for investment in the region because of less regulatory impediments to doing business as compared with China, and even India but the unfortunate part is that foreign investors are reluctant to put their money in any new venture in Pakistan.
The LCCI President said that high credit cost and frequent policy changes are the other issues that are hitting the investment scenario hard. He said that private sector has repeatedly asked the State Bank Governor to bring the interest rates down but to no avail. "The availability of cheaper money to the private sector would give considerable boost to the economic activities in the country and would also help in bringing much needed foreign investment. The local investors are holding back on their investment plans because they do not have access to cheaper credit."
He also invited the attention of the government towards deteriorating law-and-order situation in parts of the country that is sending a wrong signal to the foreign investors. He said that the government would have to take stringent possible measures to weed out this menace once for all. He said that the business community, however, welcomes the government initiative to attract foreign investment and would continue to extend every possible help in this regard.