In developing countries like Pakistan with cheap labor cost, what impedes business and economic growth are the regulatory hurdles rather than the cost of business. Prime Minister as a part of his election campaign repeatedly committed that, he shall spare no effort in simplifying Government processes so as to make them transparent and efficient with the sole purpose of promoting ease of business in the country.

The government has been aggressively pursuing these reforms which revolve around making business entry and operations easier, faster and cheaper. Last year, Pakistan advanced 11 places to 136th place on the ease of doing business global ranking. This year Pakistan jumped 28 notches and placed at 108 with six major reforms. This year marks an unprecedented increase of 61% in proposed reforms and an even more unprecedented increase of 315% in the acceptance of reform actions, which were assessed during the last six months.

The Board of Investment is keen to improve the business climate. The next step is to cut out the redundant regulations and remove unnecessary permissions/ NOCs and inspections under its new initiative called "Better Business Regulatory Initiative" This is step toward a better business regulatory environment across the country. The focus of effort is on the following key areas:

a. Removing requirements for physical inspections as pre-conditions with respect to registrations with corporate, regulatory or tax authorities except in respect of high risk cases.

b. Amalgamating registration portals and where separate portals are required, offer a single access method to all such portals.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019