Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday acknowledged the persistence of bureaucratic hurdles to ease of doing business, stating the government’s proposed civil service reforms will simplify processes, reduce unnecessary layers and speed up decision-making.
In a meeting with the senior leadership of the Pakistan Business Council (PBC), he discussed regulatory challenges, investment opportunities, and strategies to enhance economic efficiency through public-private collaboration. Underscoring the urgency of improving policy implementation and reducing operational hurdles, he lamented that minor regulatory discrepancies such as missing measurement units in SROs were causing costly shipment delays.
“We’re forming a coordinated working group with private sector stakeholders and think tanks to meet fortnightly and resolve such issues proactively,” he said.
PBC Director Azam Faruque praised deregulation of crops. “Maize is performing well due to minimal government intervention. However, Pakistan’s high electricity costs remain a major impediment to global competitiveness,” he said. PBC Director Muhammad Arif Habib, meanwhile, emphasized the untapped potential of public land assets and the blue economy.
“Public-private partnerships are key. Pakistan Railways owns vast unused land that can generate millions if commercially developed. Similarly, our blue economy has a potential of $6–8 billion, but poor communication is keeping real figures hidden from investors and the media,” said Habib. He also stressed that Pakistan had never defaulted on any CPEC-related investment. “Most of the financing is on favorable 20-year terms with grace periods. We haven’t been able to inform the public adequately about these facts,” he lamented.
Danish Lakhani noted that while registered I.T. companies paid taxes, many freelancers did not, creating an unfair playing field. “Also, making large dollar-denominated payments remains a major challenge for startups,” he said.
Both sides committed to foster continuous dialogue, build institutional trust, and work collectively towards economic modernization and efficiency.