The President of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Asif Ali Zardari attaches great magnitude to investment and business in Pakistan and desires the Board of Investment to be the apex body for fulfillment of all investor needs. To make it a vibrant organization as envisioned by the President, the Board of Investment has gone through a transformation in its structure and chain of command. The New BOI is an autonomous organization directly under the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, as a result of the initiative and efforts of H.E. Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani for the Board of Investment to be an empowered body for attracting Investment into Pakistan. The new setup has provided the BOI with the opportunity to deliver its functions more efficiently and effectively.

Pakistan is amongst the important emerging economies of the region, with a consumer base of 170 million plus and a prime location in the heart of Asia. Pakistan’s ideal location gives her access to all the growing markets of the world. In order to capitalize on its strategic location, Pakistan has adopted liberal and investor friendly policies, broad features of which include; proactive facilitation, guarantees of equal treatment to both local and foreign investors, easy tariff structures and a liberal regime on repatriation of profits. These strategies have borne results with a record inflow of Foreign Investment of US $8.4 billion, including Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of US $5.2 billion in the year 2006-2007. Recently, the volatile environment in the region and the global financial crises has affected these figures. However, the Government now plans to undertake further structural reforms in various sectors of the economy to attract investors.

The Government has declared the Power Sector as one of the top priorities for investment and is taking all necessary measures to build a more conducive environment by simplifying procedures to facilitate potential investors. At present, Pakistan’s total installed generation capacity from Hydroelectric, Thermal, Independent Power Producers (IPPs), and Nuclear sources stands at 19,566 MW. The existing capacity of thermal power generation in Pakistan stands at 12,630 MW, which is almost two-third (64.6 percent) of the country’s total generation capacity. Hydel energy is the second largest source of electricity and accounts for 33.1 percent of total power generation in the country. The rapid economic growth over the past few years has led to a power shortage in Pakistan and the country today is looking for investment in power production to meet its short and long term power needs.

The financial sector of Pakistan is regarded as one of the best performing sectors in our region. The banking sector has shown robust performance and so have the stock markets. The contribution of the service sector in the growth of the economy has been almost 60% over the last few years. The financial sector has also attracted significant attention from the foreign investors in the recent past and still holds sufficient potential.

The initiatives taken by the BOI to setup Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and other Industrial Zones will further harness the investment and the Board of Investment assures its full cooperation and support to the investors ready to come to Pakistan.

I invite you to visit the Board of Investment and consult us before doing business in Pakistan. The Board of Investment assures you its full support and commitment to facilitate all your investment needs. Pakistan is progressing towards economic growth and we promise to make your business a success.

Saleem H. Mandviwalla ,
Minister of State / Chairman,
Board of Investment