ISLAMABAD: The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has contributed over Rs1.4 trillion towards the tax revenue and made over $2.4 billion investment in Pakistan during the financial year 2020-21.
This was disclosed in the OICCI 2020 Economic Contribution Survey, an annual exercise being conducted since 2009, said a press statement issued on Monday.
OICCI President Irfan Siddiqui said, “We are proud that in the past twelve months, OICCI members, despite very challenging and uncertain business environment due to Covid-19 impact on the business and life of people globally and in Pakistan, contributed over Rs1.4 trillion, or approximately Rs5 billion each working day, towards the tax revenue of Pakistan, approximately one-third of the total tax collection in the country. Two of the OICCI members paid taxes in excess of Rs100 billion each.”
Siddiqui said that the OICCI members believe in Pakistan and going forward are keen for playing a more prominent role in a growing economy supported by a predictable, transparent and stable policy framework and a business friendly regulatory and operating environment.
He said that the foreign investors have contributed significantly towards the GDP of the country and have maintained the OICCI position as the largest chamber of commerce in terms of economic contribution in the country. He said that the OICCI members have in the past nine years invested over $18 billion, largely in the energy, telecom, chemicals, food/ FMCG and banking sectors.
OICCI Secretary General M Abdul Aleem said that with an asset base of $137 billion, the OICCI members maintained their position as the leading investors in Pakistan during 2020 with new investments of over $2.4 billion mainly in the energy, telecom and chemicals sectors. Besides the monetary contribution, the OICCI members also play a leading role in the transfer of technology, digital transformation, introducing latest inventions and sharing of best practices in the field of manufacturing operation, supply chain and marketing of internationally renowned brands.
Moreover, the OICCI members, as a group, are the largest contributor towards the social sectors. In the last one-year, they contributed Rs8 billion to social initiatives, benefiting 62 million people throughout the country, and also contributed an additional Rs8 billion for the various government and private sector Covid-19 containing activities.
The OICCI secretary general said that Pakistan suffers from negative perception which is largely uncalled for, requiring authorities to work in partnership with serious stakeholders, like OICCI, to ensure the country gets its due share of the significant foreign direct investment (FDI) coming to this region.
The OICCI, a group of over 200 leading foreign investors in Pakistan belonging to 35 countries, released the consolidated financial contribution of its members for the year 2020 based on feedback from 170 members, 50 of whom are subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies. – TLTP
