Doing Business in the Pakistan
Introduction
Created during the partition of Sub-continent India in 1947, Pakistan is strategically located to become Asia’s premier trade, energy and transport corridor. It is also the gateway to the energy rich Central Asian States, the financially liquid Gulf States and the economically advanced Far Eastern tigers. This strategic advantage alone makes Pakistan a marketplace teaming with possibilities. Pakistan has a strong middle class. A large part of the workforce is proficient in English, hardworking and intelligent. Pakistan possesses a large pool of trained and experienced engineers, bankers, lawyers and other professionals with many having substantial international experience.
The consumer market in Pakistan is growing at a very fast pace as reflected by teledensity which has now reached more than 192.32 million. Interestingly amid the global dismal financial situation, Pakistan’s economy has shown resilience to the shocks and has maintained global and regional patterns and has performed better than some of the neighboring countries. International Reports of repute have shown that Pakistan ranks ahead of regional countries.
Geography
Located in South Asia, Pakistan shares an eastern border with India and a northeastern border with China. Iran makes up the country's south- west border and Afghanistan runs along its western and northern edge. The Arabian Sea is Pakistan's southern boundary with 1,064 km of coastline.
Population
As per the 7th Population and Housing Census conducted by Government of Pakistan in August 2023, the population has reached 241.29 million.
Political System
The country is a federal parliamentary republic in which provincial governments enjoy a high degree of autonomy and residuary powers. Executive power is vested with the national cabinet which is headed by Prime Minister of Pakistan (Shahbaz Sharif since March 2024), who works with the bicameral parliament and the judiciary.
The head of state is the president (Asif Ali Zardari since March 2024). The presidency was significantly weakened by the 18th amendment (2010), shifting Pakistan to a purely parliamentary government.
Climate
Pakistan has a continental climate, with extreme variations in temperature. Summers are hot and dry; winters are cold. In June, mean temperatures in the plains reach 38 °C and can exceed 47 °C. One of the highest recorded temperatures globally—53.7 °C—was recorded in Pakistan in May 2017.
