KARACHI: The foreign investors operating in Pakistan and multinational companies (MNCs) have contributed around 1/3rd of the total tax collection by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) during fiscal year 2019/2020.
The representative body of foreign investors and MNCs, the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on Wednesday highlighted the key features of annual economic contribution survey.
Haroon Rashid, President OICCI said: “In the past twelve months, OICCI members contributed over Rs 1.2 trillion, or Rs five billion each working day, towards the tax revenue of Pakistan, which is approximately one third of the total tax collection in the country.”
During 2019 two OICCI members paid taxes in excess of Rs 100 billion each. The five sectors contributing over 80 percent of the tax revenue from OICCI members were Energy, Tobacco, FMCG & Food, Telecommunication and Banking, he added.
The OICCI the chamber of leading 200 foreign investors in Pakistan belonging to 35 countries, has released the consolidated financial contribution of its members for the year 2019 based on feedback from 150 members, 50 being subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies and 57 listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.
The foreign investors have contributed significantly towards the GDP of the country and have maintained the OICCI position as the largest chamber of commerce in terms of economic contribution in the country. This comprehensive survey is being conducted annually since 2009.
Haroon Rashid said: “OICCI members believe in Pakistan and have always been leading economic contributors to the country, however we need to take note of emerging challenges that are affecting the ability of OICCI members to keep on attracting additional investment, for example, currency devaluation.”
Haroon also mentioned that there is also growing concern among our members on the uncertain regulatory and operating environment which, if not addressed, could threaten the attractiveness of Pakistan as a destination for FDI.
“With an asset base of US $ 120 Billion, ”, Secretary General, OICCI, M Abdul Aleem added ” the OICCI members maintained their position as the leading foreign investors in Pakistan during 2019 with new investments of over US $ 3 Billion mainly in the Energy, Telecom and Chemicals sectors”.
In conclusion, OICCI Secretary General hoped “that the authorities will proactively and in a structured manner engage with OICCI members in the policy formulation and implementation process for better managing the economic challenges to the country”.
