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KARACHI (December 19 2003): The American Business Council
(ABC) of Pakistan has demanded of the government to consider
deregulation of pharmaceutical pricing and oil marketing
companies'(OMCs) margins to attract investment in the country. |
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At a media briefing on
Thursday, ABC President Anjum Fasih, urged the government to focus on improving
investment climate in the country through rationalisation of corporate and
personal taxation, drawing effective laws and enforcement of intellectual
property rights (IPR) and deregulating pharmaceutical pricing and OMCs' margins.
He said that combating corruption and smuggling, tariff rationalisation
revamping corporate governance and improving infrastructure would also be
necessary for creating confidence in the investors.
"American Business Council (ABC) will support the government and will work with
it for further improvement in the investment climate, which can lead to
sustainable growth of the economy for the benefit of the people of Pakistan,"
Fasih said.
He said that in view of the improvement in economic condition and brighter
prospects of the country, most of the American companies operating in Pakistan
were planning to invest more in their respective businesses next year.
Fasih said that, on the basis of an annual informal business survey of 41
American companies among the council's 54 members conducted recently, he could
say that there was significant improvement in perception about the conditions
that affect members businesses and future investment plans. Of 54 members, 41
responded to the survey (75 percent).
As per ABC survey, 93 percent of the respondents feel improvement in domestic
economic condition, 88.7 are optimistic about Pakistan's overall prospects and
77 percent reported planning further investment in Pakistan.
Among the 41 ABC member companies responding to the survey, 90 percent reported
increase in gross revenue in dollar terms and 84 percent in rupee terms and 86
percent reported surge in pretax profits.
4-5 percent respondents considered the government policies more consistent while
31 percent said that there was improvement in implementation of policies.
As many as 78 percent observed improvement in external political situation while
29 percent indicated improvement in internal political situation and 37 percent
felt no change.
The survey also contained a question about the acceptance of ABC
proposals/suggestions by the government, to which 82 percent responded
positively and 64 percent indicated improvement in State Bank's working and also
some improvement in the working of other government departments.
The ABC functions as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of American businesses
in Pakistan. It is one of the largest groups of single country investors in
Pakistan.
Most of the 54 ABC members belong to fortune 500 companies.
Fasih said, "Besides adherence to the quality standards, the US investment has
brought about transfer of sophisticated technology to Pakistan, which is updated
on an ongoing basis."
The ABC members employ 20,000 people directly. During 2002 only 12 expatriates
were employed in Pakistan whereas 134 Pakistanis were working abroad with
Associate or sister companies or headquarters.
Collectively, these companies contributed over Rs 34.5 billion to the national
exchequer last year, which comes to about 9 percent of the total revenue
collected by the government.
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