NEW DELHI — Pakistan missed an opportunity to attract more than $8 billion in foreign direct investment, mostly from China, and create about 500,000 industrial jobs between 2018 and 2024, according to comments by Pakistan’s Investment Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh cited in local media.
The remarks also highlight the performance of successive Pakistani governments since the launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, according to a Dawn report.
The report said Pakistan secured major Chinese debt financing for energy and transport infrastructure projects during CPEC’s early phase, but failed to build the industrial infrastructure needed to attract private investment and support the relocation of Chinese industry.
A central problem has been the slow development of special economic zones. Only four SEZs have moved beyond the planning stage in more than a decade, exposing a gap between Pakistan’s ambitions and its ability to execute industrial policy, the report said.
Since CPEC’s launch, policymakers have repeatedly focused on infrastructure and energy while describing industrial development as the second phase. But that phase was not adequately prepared or planned, the report said, leading to investor hesitation and missed opportunities.
One goal of the SEZs was to attract export-oriented foreign investment, with companies using Pakistan as a manufacturing base to export goods to China or other markets. That would have helped address Pakistan’s widening trade imbalance.
However, the report said the few companies that did enter Pakistan largely focused on serving the domestic market rather than building export-oriented manufacturing operations.
The report said Pakistan still has a possible opportunity as rising costs in China and changes in global supply chains push companies to consider new manufacturing locations. But it warned that such opportunities will not materialize through official statements alone.
Competing economies such as Vietnam and Bangladesh have shown that success in attracting industrial relocation depends on credible and predictable business ecosystems, rather than sporadic policy attention, the report said. (Source: IANS)
