THE news of Shell Pakistan’s parent company, Shell Petroleum Company Ltd, exiting the country has been received in some quarters as yet another example of how poorly the economy is doing.

While the reasons behind Shell Petroleum exiting Pakistan are complex and go further back than the rapid slowdown in economic growth, there is also no denying the fact that multinationals and foreign investors have been facing severe challenges doing business in the country due to various decisions made by the government over the past year.

These include restrictions on profit repatriation, the purchase of foreign exchange, issuance of letters of credit and so on, all of which have proven greatly disruptive to economic activity.

Meanwhile, the government has remained unable to convince even local businesses, let alone foreign ones, that it has the capacity to get the economy back on track.

The structural reforms that should have been implemented amidst a roaring economic crisis are still a distant concern for the government, which has lately seemed more worried about its electoral prospects.

Pakistan cannot thrive without foreign investment; it must do all it can to convince foreign individuals and firms who have taken a stake in its future to remain invested in the country.

While our decision-makers often act as if they can control everything with the use of force and authority, the fact is that the rest of the world does business in a very different way.

We cannot make space for ourselves in the global economic order if we do not evolve towards modern norms, and we cannot evolve if our democratic process — the normal channel for socioeconomic evolution — continues to be disrupted.

Shell Petroleum may have its reasons for exiting Pakistan, but it should trouble our decision-makers that a major foreign investor no longer thinks it worthwhile to be part of a business that has been around since the country’s birth.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2023