High interest rate, law and order, energy crisis challenging issues: ABC

The American Business Council of Pakistan (ABC) has said that increasing interest rate, prevailing law and order situation and energy crisis are some of the key challenges for business activities in the country. The American Business Council of Pakistan (ABC) held its first CEO Roundtable meeting of the year here on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by members of the ABC, representing a cross section of sectors including healthcare, financial services, information technology, chemicals and fertilisers, energy, FMCG, food and beverage, oil and gas and others. While briefing the media about the key points of the discussion, Humayun Bashir, President ABC said that the economy would go through a challenging patch in 2011, but the outlook for 2012-15 starts to look positive as per the BMA report and other economists.
He said that the ABC CEO's have hope that the political stability and dialogue between parties will bring agreement on different economic issues. He pointed out that despite of the difficult security and economic situation; pockets of the economy are doing well and businesses continued to invest in 2010 and plan to do so again for 2011. He said that 60 percent member companies did well in 2010 and 40 percent plan to invest more. He said sectors like IT, FMCG, Agriculture are attracting more investment.
Hymayun said that cost of doing business, high interest rates, cost of power and utilities (gas); security situation over all, plus personal security and travel issues and taxes and inconsistency of government policies are the key challenges for business activities in the country. He said that the members of the ABC comprise of some of the most prominent business executives, managing amongst them the most prestigious businesses, in Pakistan, most of which are Fortune 500 companies.
He said the ABC remains committed to upholding its mission - " To protect and promote the interests of US investors in Pakistan; to, encourage and stimulate new investments; to introduce and inculcate best practices; to strive to establish a level playing field in the country in order to promote the development of commerce between the USA and Pakistan."
About the performance of ABC member companies, he said that ABC members have cumulative revenues of over $3 billion, with an investment of approximately $600 million. Their contribution to the national exchequer, through direct/indirect taxes was Rs 57 billion. They exported goods worth Rs 23 billion during 2009-10. They directly employ over 55,500 people, with 220,000 dependents, and indirectly employ approximately 1 million people through their networks of agents, distributors, contractors etc.
He pointed out that a high level ABC delegation would be visiting Islamabad early next month and would hold meetings with the high officials of ministry of finance, ministry of commerce, FBR and other concerns authorities. The delegation would discuss problems being faced by the business community with the higher authorities. The delegation would also give their suggestion to resolve these issues, he added. Saad Amanullah Khan, Vice President ABC; Akram Wali Muhammad and Shabeeh Ahmed Ikram were also present on this occasion.
The American Business Council of Pakistan (ABC) is a Chamber of Commerce and Industry of American business in Pakistan affiliated with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC), Washington D.C. and Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce (APCAC). ABC also has a close working relationship with the US-Pakistan Business Council, Washington which is a component of the USCC.