Credo Reference entry on Pakistan from The Encyclopedia of World History

Click here to access the CIA World Fact Book's complete country profile for Pakistan.

Click here to access the Amnestry International country profile for Pakistan

Click here to access The World Bank country profile for Pakistan

Click here to access the United Nations country profile for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s economy remains fragile with weak macroeconomic indicators, hindered by a dependence on imports, low rates of foreign direct investment (FDI), and long-standing difficulties attracting FDI. The business community cites persistently high inflation, red tape, weak rule-of-law, corruption, political uncertainty, and security concerns as among the difficulties of doing business in Pakistan. Pakistan came close to defaulting on its external financing obligations in June 2023 after failing to meet the requirements of its IMF Extended Fund Facility. The Pakistani government and IMF subsequently agreed to a nine- month (July 2023-April 2024) $3 billion Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to relieve the immediate economic crisis. Fiscal stability, economic growth, and attracting foreign investment were and continue to be top priorities for Pakistan’s caretaker government (August 2023-January 2024) and current elected government, which took office in February 2024. The government successfully completed the IMF SBA in April 2024.

The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and
regional level. Doing Business captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local firms. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for
starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across
borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

The most common way of doing business in Pakistan is through the registration of a limited liability company (locally known as a private company (Pvt. Ltd.)). While a representative office can be used when there are no plans to conduct any productive or commercial operations from within the country, branch registration is usually not optimal. See the linked page for further details.

The United States and Pakistan have a strong economic and commercial relationship, with two-way trade reaching approximately $9.15 billion in 2022. The United States is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and continues to be one of the country’s leading sources of foreign direct investment. Goods exported from the United States to Pakistan reached $3.15 billion in 2022, a 13 percent decrease from 2021. The United States remained Pakistan’s largest goods export market in 2022 at $6 billion, a 13.5 percent increase from the previous year.

Do you want to expand your business into Pakistan, or hire employees there? Find out the key things you need to know about Pakistan expansion here..

Pakistan is ranked 108 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. The rank of Pakistan improved to 108 in 2019 from 136 in 2018. Ease of Doing Business in Pakistan averaged 117.17 from 2008 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 148.00 in 2015 and a record low of 85.00 in 2009.

The U.S.-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) is dedicated to the broad advancement of U.S. commercial engagement in Pakistan. Since its inception in 2002, the Council has provided a national forum for dialogue on key economic, political, and other issues of interest to American companies operating in or exploring business opportunities in Pakistan.