Overview
- Pakistan Business Forum says the cost of doing business is about 34% higher than in regional peers, leaving exports stagnant since 2022.
- PBF attributes the gap to what it calls irrational taxation, elevated electricity and gas tariffs, and persistent currency instability.
- The forum urges immediate tax rationalisation, cheaper industrial power and gas, and a defined exchange‑rate stance targeting roughly Rs240 per US dollar.
- PBF notes the rupee has lost nearly Rs160 against the dollar over six years and argues repeated devaluations have raised costs and undermined confidence.
- Leaders highlight a cotton value‑chain crisis with more than 400 ginning factories closed and call for withdrawing the 18% GST on cottonseed and oil cake.