Enforcement of Business Contract

ISLAMABAD: The enforcement of business contracts in Pakistan require 976 days for implementation which remained the stumbling block in the way for improving business in the country, the World Bank s report on Doing Business 2010 launched on Wednesday. Talking to The News from the bank s headquarters Washington DC on Wednesday World Bank s Private Sector Development Analyst Dana Omran said Pakistan s ranking stood at 86th position out of 183 economies of the world. In South Asia Pakistan stood at the top as it was ahead of India in doing reforms, she said while replying to question of this correspondent. Out of total ten indicators Pakistan s ranking improved in terms of starting business while its performance deteriorated in seven indicators and it remained unchanged in terms of two indicators. She said Pakistan s ranking improved by 17 notches in terms of starting business procedures from last year as it stood at 63rd position in 2010 report. Pakistan s ranking in terms of dealing with construction permits nosedived to 105th position, employing workers at 146th; registering property 119 th; getting credit 61st ; protecting investors 27th ; paying taxes 143rd ; trading across borders 78th ; enforcing contracts 158th and closing business at 56th in 2010 report. Answering a query about the indicator in which Pakistan s performance steep decline, she said that it took 976 days to enforce contracts in Pakistan, which is definitely consuming more time as well as money for enforcement of contacts in comparison with other regional states.The transferring of property took almost 50 days in Pakistan which is less than other regional states as they took over 100 days for moving ahead on this front. The Doing Business Report states dealing with construction permit, the procedure documents required 12 in Pakistan and consumed 223 days for accomplishing the task. The difficulties that employers face in hiring and firing workers related indicator showed that difficulty of hiring workers related index (0 to 100) Pakistan s ranking stood at 78th position, rigidity of hours at 20th position and redundancy cost at 90th position. The credit information index measures the scope, access and quality of credit information available through public registries or private bureaus. It ranges from 0-6, with higher values indicating that more credit information is available from a public registry or private bureau. Pakistan s ranking in terms of strength of legal right index stood at 6th position, depth of credit information index at 4th position. The costs and procedures involved in importing and exporting a standardized shipment of goods are detailed under the indicator of trading across borders. Every official procedure involved is recorded, starting from the final contractual agreement between the two parties, and ending with the delivery of the goods. The cost for exporting from Pakistan per container stood at $611 while for imports it stood at $680 per container.