ISLAMABAD - Standard Chartered Bank hosted a high profile investors/fund managers breakfast session with Minister of Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation, Senator Ishaq Dar in London on Friday.
The event was attended by a large number of prominent emerging market credit investors in London and senior Standard Chartered executives, including Group Chief Executive, Peter Sands.
Dar presented a comprehensive update on the economic and structural policy reforms initiatives taken by the new government under the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
The Finance Minister reiterated the government’s resolve to face the monumental economic challenges faced by the country based on the policy of self reliance and highlighted the salient features of his roadmap for addressing macro –economic imbalances. The objectives of the government, he added, include acceleration in growth, fiscal consolidation, promoting domestic and foreign investment and trade, tax and energy sector reforms and strategic partnership to turn around State Owned Enterprises.
The Finance Minister apprised the participants that Pakistan ranked 32nd in World Bank rankings pertaining to investment protection which was better than many countries in the world. Dar stated that Pakistan had one of the most investment and trade friendly regimes with abundant cheap and skilled labour force . He said the government of Pakistan would welcome international investors and fund managers to take advantage of the investment and business friendly environment of Pakistan.
The Minister further said that the enormous support for Pakistan currently being expressed by the international financial institutions, multilateral donors and investors indicates the level of confidence that the new government of PMLN enjoys in the international community.  The fund managers indicated a strong interest in sovereign bonds being floated by Government of Pakistan and assured him of their participation.
The session was followed by a brief Q&A session. Responding to a question regarding workers’ remittances, Dar said that he had advised the State Bank of Pakistan to come up with a scheme for providing initiatives and facilitation both to the expatriate Pakistanis as well as financial institutions with the objective of speedy and reliable transfer of remittances to Pakistan. This he said would not only help increase remittances from the current level of $14 billion to $16 billion by fiscal year 2015 but also help achieve the target of $20billion in the next few years.