Ease of doing business in Pakistan - making things better.

Byline: Ahsan Nisar

According to World Bank's Doing Business Report 2019, Pakistan carried out three business reforms during the past year to help create jobs, attract investment and make the economy more competitive. This year, Pakistanadvances 11 places to 136th place on the ease of doing business global ranking. On the measure of absolute progress towards best practice, Pakistan improved score to 55.31, from 52.78 last year. The reforms of the past year covered the Doing Business areas of starting a business, registering property and resolving insolvency. Substantial reforms at both federal and provincial levels over the past year have contributed to this improvement, however, this improvement needs to be sustained and accelerated.

During the past year, starting a business was made easier by enhancing the online one-stop registration system, replacing several forms for incorporation with a single application, and establishing information exchange between the registry and the tax authority. As a result, the time to start a business was reduced from 20 days to 17 days, while the cost was reduced from 7.9 percent of the income per capita to 6.8 percent. The reform applies to both Karachi and Lahore, the two cities measured by the Doing Business report.

Several improvements have also been made in the area of registering property. For instance, Lahore made registering property easier by streamlining and automating administrative procedures and by increasing the transparency of its land administration system. Karachi similarly made registering property easier by increasing the transparency of the land registry. The reforms resulted in reducing the time needed to register a property by 13 days. However, at 144 days, registering property in Pakistan can be made yet easier so that the country can surpass the South Asia regional average of 114 days.

Pakistan has also made resolving insolvency easier by enabling the continuation of the debtor's business during insolvency proceedings. As a result, the country significantly improved its global ranking in this area to 53, from 82 last year. Pakistan performs best in the area of protecting minority investors, earning 9 out 10 points in the extent of ownership and control index, which measures governance safeguards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment. Globally, Pakistan ranks 26 on this measure.

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