The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on Pakistan to convert the gains from macroeconomic stabilization into tangible progress on private investment, exports, energy security and structural reform. The call came during a meeting between senior OICCI leadership, representatives of member multinational companies, and a visiting International Monetary Fund delegation comprising Iva Petrova, Advisor for the Middle East and Central Asia Department, and Mahir Binici, Resident Representative, held at the Chamber on Thursday. The Chamber used the meeting to press the case that improved macroeconomic indicators have not yet translated into stronger investor confidence, pointing to a roughly 32 percent decline in net foreign direct investment to 1.7 billion dollars in FY26 despite improvements in Pakistan’s external position and sovereign credit profile. OICCI argued that lower regulatory and compliance burdens, stronger investor protection and clearer coordination between federal and provincial authorities are needed to reverse that trend, while also stressing that domestic industry must lead by reinvesting in Pakistan, since foreign investors take their cues from the confidence shown by local businesses.
On energy, the Chamber called for immediate conservation measures alongside a medium term plan to build greater self sufficiency, a concern sharpened by higher oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict. It urged a coherent energy security strategy spanning power, gas and petroleum, citing high regional energy costs, the persistence of circular debt, the need for fresh investment in refining capacity and unexplored opportunities for regional energy cooperation. On the external sector, OICCI stressed that Pakistan cannot sustain higher growth without expanding its capacity to earn foreign exchange, calling for greater competitiveness and productivity, stronger export oriented sectors, deeper trade and investment ties with key markets, and greater regional trade where commercially viable. On structural reform, the Chamber pushed for faster reform of state owned enterprises and credible privatisation wherever continued state ownership lacks a compelling policy rationale, along with a clearer separation of the state’s roles as policymaker, regulator, facilitator and commercial operator to create more room for private sector investment and competition. It also called for broadening taxation into under taxed segments such as agriculture, real estate, SMEs and retail, rather than repeatedly raising the burden on already documented businesses.
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