ISLAMABAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan climbed up 28 spots to become the 108th country in the global ease of doing business rankings this year, from 136 the previous year, the World Bank said on its website on Thursday.
Pakistan also became one of the top 10 business climate improvers, owing to its enactment of six regulatory reforms, the World Bank Group's Doing Business 2020 study said.
"This rise is significant and made possible by collective and coordinated actions of Federal Government and Provincial Governments of Sindh and Punjab over the past year," the report quoted World Bank's country Director for Pakistan Illango Patchamuthu as saying.
"The accelerated reform agenda has many noteworthy features to improve quality of regulations, reduce time and streamline processes. This momentum needs to be sustained in the coming years for Pakistan to continue to make progress," Patchamuthu said.
The reforms that helped the country improve its ranking are significant. The country has made starting a business easier by expanding the functionalities of the online one-stop-shop, the World Bank said, adding that the measures taken by the country has helped reduce number of procedures required to set up a business from 10 to five and improved the economy's score for starting a business.
Authorities made the approval process for obtaining a construction permit easier and faster in Karachi and Lahore, besides making registration of electricity and property easier for the businessmen.
Moreover, Pakistan also eased the process for paying taxes by introducing online payment modules for value added taxes and corporate income taxes. The government also lowered the corporate income tax rate for the 2018 fiscal year. This reform reduced the number of payments from 47 to 34 and the total number of hours required to comply with tax requirements per year from 294 to 283.
Responding to the World Bank's report, the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded "all the people in the government who worked hard to make this happen."
"Pakistan achieves biggest improvement in its history in World Bank's EODB (ease of doing business) rankings. Over last decade, Pakistan's ranking had slipped more than 50 places. Now, we have improved 28 places - from 136 to 108," Khan said in a series of tweets, adding that they still have a long way to go and before 2020 they will make remarkable achievement in improving business climate.
