Businessmen in a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry urged the government to take appropriate measures to attract investment from Pakistani Diaspora, which will help greatly in steering the economy out of current troubles.

They showed great concerns that Pakistan has become excessively dependent on external lending & aid to meet its expenditures & financing needs and added that this situation has compromised the government’s ability to make independent policies.

They said one good option to reverse this trend is that government should give key priority to attract investment from overseas Pakistanis by addressing all those problems that are discouraging them from investing in the country.

Chairing the meeting, Zahid Maqbool, President, ICCI said that many Pakistani entrepreneurs settled in USA, UK, Europe and other foreign countries are eager to invest in Pakistan. However, they are waiting for right conditions in their home country. He was of the view that with the creation of a conducive environment for investors, Pakistani Diaspora could emerge as a major conduit for resource transfer in the country.

He said Chinese Diaspora have indeed contributed much in terms of the economic transformation of China by providing capital and connection to the outside world. Similarly Indian Diaspora, apart from sending in more than US$ 50 billion annual remittances is playing a major role in bringing foreign investment in India, particularly in IT and outsource services. He said that Pakistan can also reap multiple benefits by motivating its Diaspora to enhance investment in the country.

He said due to excessive dependence of the country on foreign flows the performance of the economy has become extremely volatile as it performs well when the foreign lending flows in large number, but becomes fragile when foreign flows start declining.

He said government should also focus on encouraging savings and generating more internal resources to put the country on the path of sustainable economic growth.

Businessmen said that in the wake of global recession in West and Europe, many Pakistani entrepreneurs in these countries are looking for other destinations for investment and it is the right time that government should put its own house in order to attract them in the country.
They said enhanced investment by Pakistani Diaspora in their home country will pave way for more foreign direct investment in the country.