Not so business-unfriendly yet

When 85 percent of the economies surveyed by the World Bank for its report "Doing Business 2011" improved in terms of making it easier to conduct business in their economies; Pakistan shadowed in amongst the bottom few where it has only become harder to become an entrepreneur.
Though Pakistan fell from the 75th place out of 183 countries to the 83rd position, it seemed more business-friendly than the South Asian region in general.
For most of the categories, from starting a business, registering property, trading across borders, dealing with construction permits, to closing a business; the cost and time involved is much less than the South Asian region in general.
However, tax critics will be quick to point out Pakistans inefficiency in terms of paying taxes relative to the region.
Not only is the time taken for preparing, filing and paying taxes in terms of procedural requirements in Pakistan double that of the South Asian region, taxes on profits paid by businesses in general and the total tax rate; including labour and miscellaneous taxes, is also lower than the region.
Despite voices in Pakistan arguing against the crowding out of private sector credit due to the governments borrowing from the banking system, Pakistan stands above the South Asian region as far as obtaining credit is concerned. Indices measuring the strength of bankruptcy laws protecting borrowers and lenders, as well as coverage and accessibility of credit information, show that Pakistan is a wee bit better than the region in general.
But no points for guessing that electricity (or lack thereof) remains the Achilles heel of Pakistan. At 266 days, Pakistan was among the slowest 10 countries as far as the provision of electricity for businesspersons is concerned. The fastest 10 were providing electricity in as little as 24 days to prospective entrepreneurs.
Overall, even though Pakistan appears better than South Asia when looked at from a standstill perspective, over the years its rank has declined in most categories, bringing it in the category of the few where conducting a business has been getting harder.If the rankings and indices measures of OECD countries are kept as a benchmark, theres a lot the country needs to do to truly make the land, one of opportunities for entrepreneurs.

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Doing Business indicators

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                                                       Pakistan    South Asia

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cost of construction permits - % of income per capita       576          2039

cost of starting a Business - % of income per capita         11            25

Registering Property - Time (days)                           50          99.8

Getting Credit - strength of legal rights index               6           5.4

Cost to export ($ per container)                            611          1512

Cost to import ($ per container)                            680          1745

Paying taxes - hours per year                               560           283

Closing a business - recovery rate (cents per $)             37            28

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Source: Doing Business Report 2011