ABU DHABI: The investment inflows to Pakistan would not be affected, though some delays cannot be ruled out, says Shariq Azhar, Director-General of Injaz Mena.
"The south Asian country is second home to many top investors from GCC in general and the UAE in particular," Shariq said.
"Acts of terrorism, and lately the political turmoil is keeping Pakistan in the headline news, but the investors believe the country offers great returns on investment, the top executive of Abu Dhabi-based company said. Injaz Mena, a capital based investment firm, has made splashes during its three years of existence, and had announced last year, a mega real estate project with an end value of $600 million in Karachi.
Business is as usual for Shariq Azhar, as his company is going-on with its project and will lay the foundation stone sometimes this year.
"At present the designs work is being completed."
But, he believed uncertainty is one thing investors don't like.
In Pakistan, the encouraging thing was continuity of the political system.
The strong performance put up by a vibrant stock market has relieved many foreign investors, which did not crash not only during the judiciary-government stand-off but later also.
Shariq said Pakistan, which is world's sixth largest nation with 160 million population, has maintained a 6-7 per cent gross domestic product, in past three to four years.
“The high growth rate has boosted the sale of consumer goods and led to the phenomenal growth in consumer finances-mortgages, car loans and other loans, which has spurred production of automobiles, electrical and electronic goods,” he said.
"Any business or project that aims at exploiting the large consumer-base will definitely be a success and yield high return on investment."
"The investors will certainly hold-back their investment plans for a while, in present circumstances, until things clears-up,” he said.
"Next two quarters are important for any major investment related decision to be taken as far as private sector is concerned. However, it has never been an issue for public sector companies,” he said. - KT
