KARACHI: Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, the President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain said that slow internet has damaged the IT industry, online businesses badly.
According to the general perception, the future of IT industry and online businesses is at stake due to the government's efforts to control the internet.
He said that after the shocking revelation that Pakistanis invested US 11 billion dollars in Dubai’s property market; the Dubai Chamber of Commerce has said that 3,968 Pakistani companies have registered in Dubai in the last six months.
In 2023, 8,036 Pakistani companies were registered in Dubai, which was 71.2% more than in 2022, which means that capital is rapidly fleeing the country.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that Dubai is the favourite destination of Pakistani software companies. There, electricity is cheap, the business environment is favourable, the payment system is better, and contracts are enforced.
Foreign companies only like to deal with Pakistani companies registered in Dubai because the situation in Pakistan is uncertain, and doing business with Pakistani companies registered in Dubai provides a sense of security.
Representatives of foreign companies don’t like to come to Pakistan, but they are always ready to travel to Dubai for business. Pakistan's payment system is also very weak, while there is no such weakness in Dubai. Corporate tax is only 9% on profits above 375,000 dirhams, while there is no tax on profits below 375,000 dirhams.
The tax rate in Dubai is negligible compared to the facilities. Dubai does not have complex formalities, unnecessary documentation, and tedious laws like Pakistan. It does not have a culture of setting goals and making loud claims based on baseless assumptions.
He further said that instead of giving better incentives to companies doing business in Pakistan, they are strangled. Such policies should be avoided, as they will deprive Pakistan of its talent and income, and the plan of increasing IT exports to US 10 billion dollars in two years will remain a dream.
He noted that this vital sector has the potential to change the destiny of this country, but if neglected, it will go down like all other sectors of the economy.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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