Government hopes for improving EoDB ranking through reforms: Razak Dawood.

ISLAMABAD -- Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood hoped the government to improve Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranking under 100 through comprehensive reforms strategy for providing conducive business environment to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

'We are expecting improvement of more than 20 positions this year in the overall score of World Bank (WB) EODB world annual Index report from position of 108 to 88 to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country, Adviser, Abdul Razak Dawood told reporter here.

The adviser said Pakistan had an unprecedented improvement in EoDB ranking last year and 'We wanted to continue the momentum and build on our success in coming years,' he said.

He said that Ease of Doing Business Pakistan has improved from 136 to 108 number of EoDB rank in last year 2019-20, which shows government's commitment to improve business environment.

Replying to a question, he said this year the government was focusing on all 10 indicators measured by the World Bank Index annual report.

He said that in this context 74 reform actions relating to these business indicators have been completed and being taken up with the DB team for their consideration.

While talking on these reforms, Razak Dawood said the company registration and registration with all provincial authorities have become easy and online without involving human handling.

He said that company could now be registered in one day with Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Replying to another question on provincial departments from improving EoDB, he said that data was transferred to Labour Department, Punjab Employees Social Security Institute (PESSI), Sindh Employees Social Security Institute (SESSI) and Employees' Old-Age Benefits Institute (EOBI) in real time and only SECP portal was used to End integration of 9 departments has been made and waiving off the fee by labour department Sindh will also reduce cost for businesses to be operated in Sindh as well, he said.

He said that Punjab had already waived off labour fee last year and similarly omission of provisions regarding company's common seal would lead to reduction in one procedure and associated time. SECP has notified the rules for Corporate Rehabilitation Act 2018. Now companies can get full benefits of resolution of insolvency.

He said that Lahore Development Authority (LDA) amended their...