Published in: June 2020

The entire Globe is experiencing some of the toughest economic and social times in recent history. Sadly, the global slowdown came at a time when Pakistan had just started to recover from its own economic crisis and was on its way towards recovery. In addition to its pre-existing hardships including record debt, managing the IMF bailout package and enforcing measures demanded by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the country has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting global economic slowdown. The government’s efforts to control the situation were off to a rocky start and the people of Pakistan relied on its leadership to tackle the prevailing crisis by providing relief through the FY21 Budget. The high pre-budget expectations were let down by the government which presented a budget that gave relief to only a handful of the sectors and largely left out the rest. Although the budget did not introduce any new taxes as promised, a number of existing tax rates were increased and the stakeholders of Pakistan’s economy remained largely unimpressed. The FY21 budget failed to address the country’s woes affectively. Only time will tell how the government is able to restore the confidence of the business and industrial community, which is the economic engine of Pakistan but is overlooked by the budget.

Published in: June 2020

The Federal Government is going to present the budget 2020-21 in the parliament on Friday, 12th June, 2020. The pre-budget report FY21 – Budget amid Pandemic is part of KCCI’s yearly coverage of the federal budget. Launched a day before the government presents the budget, the report covers the changes, which major economic stakeholders can expect in the upcoming financial year. This year, the government will present its federal budget while the country is facing truly unprecedented times as the country is battling economic challenges amid a global pandemic that left the world in one of the worst economic downturns in recent history. Although, the government is expected to provide relief to its people, it also is obligated to ensure that conditions and commitments made to groups such as the IMF are fulfilled. This document contains a compilation of major expectations that the government is likely to enforce in FY21 through the budget and its Finance Bill 2020.

Published in: April 2020

KCCI in its relentless efforts to serve the business community of the metropolis launched its first ‘Karachi Business Sentiment Survey’ on 1st Jan’20 and concluded collection of response on 15th Mar’20. A total of 1,103 manufacturers, service providers and traders from diverse sectors filled the survey. Majority of the responders experienced at least some friction in business activities with general pessimism prevailing in nearly all sectors. These businesses are also skeptical on growth prospects in 2020 which is worrying since the Coronavirus Pandemic is likely to have further dampened the situation. Rupee depreciation, unprecedented rise in utility costs and Pakistan’s outdated tax system clogged with anomalies and complexities were said to be the biggest challenges for businesses. Nearly half of the responders claimed to have laid off workers in 2019.
The initiative was launched on the directives of Mr. Siraj Kassam Teli Chairman BMG & Former President KCCI and Mr. A.Q Khalil General Secretary BMG & Former President KCCI, besides being supported and facilitated by Mr. Agha Shahab Khan President KCCI, Mr. Arshad Islam SVP KCCI and Mr. Shahid Ismail VP KCCI. Karachi Business Sentiment Survey proved to be a useful tool and KCCI is all set to continue pushing its boundaries of unparalleled efforts by serving the business community.

Published in: February 2020

In this report, we have attempted to shed some light on the status of Ease of Doing Business in Pakistan as studied by the World Bank (WB) in its yearly publication. The improvement in business reforms brought throughout FY19 was recognized by the World Bank (WB) in its Ease of Doing Business report 2020. After climbing 11 places in the 2019 version of the report, Pakistan jumped further 28 places to now be ranked at 108th in a list of 190 economies. Subsequently, the WB has also included Pakistan in its list of most improving economies of 2020. After carefully studying the WB’s model, we have worked out that by improving the overall business environment in the country, Pakistan can establish itself as a top performer in the rankings. In fact, given the present state of business reforms, aiming for a target range of between 84th – 22nd is fairly achievable; provided that relevant reforms are introduced and are made sure to be effective once in place.