Are Pakistan’s ease-of-doing-business initiatives delivering?

Pakistan does not lack ease-of-doing-business initiatives. Over the past few years, the government has created the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), pushed regulatory modernisation, introduced the ‘Asaan Karobar’ framework, set up business facilitation centres, expanded digital services, and moved towards national one-window platforms.

The direction is positive. But for businesses, the real question is, has it actually become easier to operate? For an investor, reform is not measured by the number of committees constituted, portals announced or regulations reviewed. It is measured in days saved in obtaining an approval, fewer departments visited, fewer licences renewed, faster tax refunds, predictable inspections, reliable utility connections, and confidence that rules will not change unexpectedly.

On that test, Pakistan’s reform story is still work in progress. Though there has been some real progress. The Pakistan Regulatory Reforms 2025 exercise successfully eliminated redundant regulatory requirements and digitalised numerous procedures as part of a larger, multi-phase Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI). SECP’s Companies Regulations 2024 also simplified corporate compliance requirements and relatively reduced the documentation burden for companies.

The government has also tried to make dealing with the state less fragmented. Business Facilitation Centres are meant to bring multiple approvals and services under one roof. Pakistan Single Window has pushed trade-related procedures onto a common digital platform. SIFC, meanwhile, has tried to solve coordination problems for large and strategic investors by bringing federal and provincial decision-makers together to resolve bottlenecks rather than leaving investors to navigate individual departments themselves. At the same time, one wonders what is the role of the Board of Investment in all of this?

That said, one must acknowledge that these are useful steps. But they also highlight the main weakness in Pakistan’s reform model. A one-window system only works when there is actually one process behind the window.

Bringing several departments into the same building or connecting them to the same portal does not automatically remove overlapping mandates, duplicate documents, or approvals. And the bigger burden often comes after a business has been established. Firms still deal with multiple agencies for what should be a single process, many procedures remain only partly digitised, and enforcement can still be discretionary.

That is an important distinction. Digitising a form is different from reforming the regulation behind it.

The government’s own reform record also shows how difficult implementation has been. The government’s Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms (CCoRR) scorecard continues to highlight an ongoing implementation gap. Of the 558 total regulatory reforms endorsed by the committee across seven multi-sector packages, 76 have been fully implemented, representing a completion rate of roughly 13.6 percent. While 232 reforms remain actively on track, a substantial portion, 243 reforms, are currently classified as off-track across 33 different state departments and agencies.

So, the problem is no longer identifying what needs to change. Much of that diagnosis already exists. The bigger issue is execution.

The ‘Asaan Karobar Act 2025’ aims to make business regulation simpler through a central Regulatory Registry and a unified digital Pakistan Business Portal for licences, permits, and approvals. But full integration will take time, with key milestones running through 2028.

That makes the next phase especially important. The government now needs to move from reporting the number of reforms approved to showing whether businesses are actually seeing faster approvals, lower costs, and less red tape.

How many days does a construction approval take? How long does an industrial electricity or gas connection take? What percentage of tax refunds are paid within the prescribed time? How many applications are pending beyond deadline? How many investor complaints are resolved, and how quickly? How many licences have actually been abolished rather than simply shifted online? These are the indicators that matter.

The same principle should apply to SIFC. The government plans to publish an annual report on the investments it has facilitated and the concessions granted, with the process running into 2027. Such disclosure would help shift the focus from investment announcements to actual results.

The federal-provincial divide is another major challenge.

A typical business in Pakistan deals with several layers of government at the same time, federal agencies such as FBR and SECP, provincial departments, local authorities, and regulators. This makes business regulation fragmented, so federal reforms alone cannot solve the problem. The planned National Regulatory Registry is eventually meant to bring these requirements into a more unified system. However, until provincial and local rules are fully integrated, the country risks having several “one-window” portals while the system behind them remains fragmented and overlapping.

Pakistan’s regulatory uncertainty is also evident in the reported move to ban products packaged in 100% recyclable PET bottles in Islamabad Capital Territory. Such decisions, made without adequate stakeholder consultation, risk disrupting supply chains, increasing compliance costs and undermining investments in recycling infrastructure. For foreign investors, this reinforces the need for evidence-based policymaking and early consultation with industry to ensure predictable regulations and maintain investor confidence.

Tax administration is another important test. Refund delays, uncertain audits and complex compliance rules still cost businesses time and tie up working capital. These are exactly the areas where simpler procedures could make a real difference. Inspections also need reform. Businesses should not face repeated visits from different agencies asking for the same information.

Pakistan therefore does not necessarily need another reform platform. It needs the existing ones to work.

The next phase should focus on binding timelines, interoperable databases, fewer approvals, risk-based regulation, automatic approvals where appropriate, and public dashboards showing which agencies are meeting their commitments.

That would change the nature of the reform debate. Instead of asking how many initiatives Pakistan has announced, the question would become: how much time, money and uncertainty have businesses actually saved?

When businesses can start, expand, import, pay taxes, obtain utilities, receive refunds, and resolve regulatory issues with fewer steps and greater certainty, ease-of-doing-business reform will have moved from government announcements to investor confidence.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026