by Meng Fanrong

 

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 25 (Gwadar Pro) - A webinar on Post-COVID Global Investment Climate and Opportunities for Pakistan was held on Wednesday. Participants, while being optimistic, deliberated and brainstormed ideas aimed at speedy economic recovery of Pakistan in the post-pandemic area. They also highlighted the challenges that Pakistan needed to address for a sustained economic growth.

 

H.E. Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, appreciated China's efforts and achievements in the global response to the epidemic, and thanked China for its support and assistance to Pakistan in the fight against the epidemic. “Timely measures taken by the Pakistani government including providing construction incentives, 10 Billion Tree Tsunami, etc have played a crucial role in combating COVID-19. The economy is showing signs of improvement. IT, banking, telecoms industry are developing robustly,” he said.

 

Amb Haque affirmed the positive significance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that even during the pandemic there’s no undue delay on the project. “KP is an important part of CPEC, and bilateral trade between Pakistan and China remains vigorous. Mineral, leather sporting goods, agricultural products, etc are all emerging sectors.” He also believes in the bright future of developing tourism in KP.

 

Kiyoshi Taniguchi, Principal Economist, Asian Development Bank, stated that Pakistan’s structural challenges include economic mismanagement, lack of resilience to external shocks and lack of competitiveness. Although high cost of finance is a concern, access to credit to the private sector, especially to SMEs, is a more critical binding constraint. “Investments in Pakistan have been historically low compared to other countries. Increasing FDI will require addressing the impediments including poor risk assessment, weak political stability, inconsistent policies and difficult business environment,” he said.

 

Sulaiman S. Mehdi, Chairman of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) said that during the second wave of pandemic in Pakistan, the Government initiated smart lockdown measures and maintained an open mode of industrial production, which was clearly sensible. “In a sense, Pakistan is the beneficiary of the second wave of the epidemic as social expenditure has been converted into savings and entered Pakistan in the form of remittances. Besides, as industries in countries such as Bangladesh and India were completely blocked, export orders shifted to Pakistan, particularly in the textile industry. Very little motivation for traveling abroad which also helped preserve the foreign exchange reserves as well,” he emphasized.

 

“Growth in KP indicated more finance support from federal government, urban agglomeration, regional trade remittances from abroad,” Sulaiman S. Mehdi further said. “KP can attract investments in industry, construction, agriculture, livestock, mining and tourism, and all these investments can be managed through friendly private sector policies,” he said.

 

Charles Schneider, Senior Sector Specialist IFC, WBG shared his opinion in the context of a definitely improving security environment of KP. “KP Province needs targeted investment methods, focusing on where the country and the province have comparable investment experience so far. Pakistan can learn from foreign direct investment projects. Project management methods are necessary to deal with strategic investors.”