This is with reference to the good news published by the World Bank and its private sector arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) that doing business in Pakistan is comparatively easy to other South Asia nations.
'Doing Business 2007' also ranks 175 economies on the ease of doing business -covering 20 more economies than last year's report.
These rankings highlight significant obstacles to business in South Asia, compared to countries around the world. The top ranked countries in the region are the Maldives (53) and Pakistan (74), followed by Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (89), Nepal (100) and India (134) Bhutan (138) and Afghanistan (162) are ranked lowest in the region. Pakistan was the runner-up reformer in South Asia this year.
According to the report, Pakistan reforms to modernise customs reduced time to import from 39 to 15 days and time to export from 33 to 24 days. Corporate tax rates fell from 39 percent in 2004 to 37 per cent in 2005 and 35 percent in 2006. In 1999 Pakistan was standing at 126, out of 151 countries. I congratulate the government for working day and night to develop Pakistan at faster rate and this report is testimony to their efforts.