Multinational companies plan Pakistan exit amid internet disruptions, warns country's business council

According to Pakistan's leading English daily the Dawn, the PBC warning came amid a report by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce that 3,968 Pakistani companies registered in Dubai between January and June 2024 — making Pakistan the second-ranked country on the list.

The figure was also 17 percent higher than the 3,395 firms registered during the same period in 2023, reports the Dawn.

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce last year registered 8,036 new Pakistani businesses.

The rise in Dubai-based Pakistani businesses highlights a growing exodus from a country already grappling with severe unemployment and sluggish economic growth, according to Dawn.

As hundreds of thousands of skilled and unskilled workers have already left Pakistan, millions more are reportedly seeking opportunities abroad, the Dawn reported.

“Many multinational companies (MNCs) are either planning to relocate their back offices from Pakistan or have already done so, as the reported imposition of a firewall causes widespread internet disruptions across the country,” according to a PBC statement.

The business policy body said this migration reflects a deepening lack of confidence in the Pakistani government’s economic policies.

Key factors contributing to this trust deficit include the high cost of doing business, political uncertainties, soaring electricity costs, and deteriorating law and order, as per the PBC.

“While we struggle with the costs of idle capacity in power generation leading to unemployment and loss of exports and tax revenue, we now have to contend with the threat of idle capacity in the emerging software sector due to poor execution of a firewall,” the PBC said in the statement.

The business council added that the tech industry in the country has already expressed serious concern over the recent internet slowdown, warning that these disruptions could cost Pakistan up to $300 million.

The PBC asked the authorities concerned to go back and get the right firewall or learn to apply it without creating an unnecessary impact on employment and exports, as reported by The Dawn.

“IT and IT-enabled services, besides agriculture and tourism, offer a valuable opportunity to achieve the PM’s export target over the next three years. High-speed connectivity is also vital for the domestic economy,” the PBC statement read.

The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), which serves as the national point of reference for foreign investors in Pakistan, also warned that frequent internet disruptions in the country could derail the nation’s economic progress.

The Pakistan Software Houses Association, a non-profit functional trade body and registered association for the IT industry in Pakistan, said in a statement that these disruptions are not mere inconveniences but a direct, tangible and aggressive assault on the industry’s viability, inflicting devastating financial losses estimated to reach $300m, which can rise exponentially, reports the Dawn.