- Friday, February 28, 2025
Mian Mohammad Mansha, chairman of the Nishat Group, also said that Pakistan must go after greater regional trade ties with its neighbours such as India, Iran and Afghanistan.
By: Shubham Ghosh
PAKISTAN might have a historically disturbed relationship India owing to many factors but one of its major business leaders feels that economically, Islamabad has to learn from its adversary and also focus on regional trade ties with the latter.
Mian Mohammad Mansha, chairman of the Nishat Group, one of Pakistan’s largest business conglomerates which also owns the MCB Bank, said in an interview with the country’s major daily Dawn that if a country has to strengthen its external sector and build currency reserves, it must attract local as well as foreign private investment.
Pakistan is currently experiencing a deep economic crisis and its dwindling foreign reserves has left it facing uncertainty.
Mansha, one of the South Asian nation’s top exporters, said it cannot rebuild its foreign currency reserves or overcome its balance of payments troubles only by increasing exports.
“No country can build reserves by selling towels. If you want to strengthen your external sector and build currency reserves, you got to do this by attracting local and foreign private investment,” he told Dawn.
Mansha, who was born in Lahore the same year Pakistan and India became independent, then cited the example of Pakistan’s eastern neighbour with which it has fought a number of wars since 1947.
“India has done it that way. (Unlike Pakistan) they have been in just one International Monetary Fund programme since 1991 and never looked back. Foreign companies are flocking to that country. This is because Indians have implemented tough reforms to facilitate investors and investment,” he was quoted as saying by the daily.
He said the exact opposite was happening in Pakistan because of lack of rule of law.
“In Pakistan, on the other hand, we see foreign investors running away. This is because there is no rule of law here, and no one respects the sanctity of the contracts. Sri Lanka has come out of a similar crisis because of the respect for the law and the sanctity of contracts in that country. Why should anyone invest here if they have better, more attractive places to invest?” Mansha. who has built one of Pakistan’s most diversified business empires from a single textile mill, told Dawn in hard-hitting words.
“Once you can inspire confidence in the investors, they will start putting their capital in the economy; it will tackle most of your problems like the balance of payments issues, low industrial and agricultural productivity, exports, tax revenues, etc. There will be no stopping you; you just have to increase the size of the economy and make this country a favoured destination for the investors,” he added.
The veteran business magnate also said that Pakistan must go after greater regional trade ties with its neighbours such as India, Iran and Afghanistan. He said Pakistan could earn billions of dollars just by letting landlocked states such as Afghanistan and those in central Asia by giving them access to the world.
Mansha advised that the fundamentals of the economy need to be rectified for Pakistan and the foundations upon which its economic superstructure is built should be made stronger.
“We must fix our justice system, law enforcement, education and bureaucracy and downsize the government by pulling it out of the businesses it has no business running,” he said, adding that if China could have business ties with India despite having territorial disputes, why couldn’t Pakistan.
“If we want to make this economy competitive, we will have to make difficult decisions; we will have to go after structural issues and fix the basic problems dragging down the economy. Let me also tell you one thing: there always is room for tough decisions no matter how heavy the constraints are,” the tycoon said in the interview.
