Facilitate cross-border access to capital and funding for businesses THEME 6 Relevance Impact No. Option Effort Direct46Increase SMEs’ access to funding by linking them to investors, facilitating the adoption of lending and enabling opportunities for financing through guarantees High 47Explore financial arrangements with international organizations providing guarantees for repatriation risk High 48The SBP to fix a time for responding to requests regarding the movement of funds; if no response is offered by the said date, businesses should be allowed to buy US dollars on the open market High 49The SBP to develop a stable remittance strategy to encourage individuals to bring money into the country and ensure access to global accounts without difficulty High 50Develop debt capital markets and a robust credit history system for long- term sustainability and growth High Indirect51Update banking regulations to enable non-physical, IT-based products/services as collateral to improve access to funding for digital players, especially start-ups and SMEs High 52Arrange buildings near Pakistani embassies where Pakistani companies can set up shop, thereby having access to markets and allowing them to pay costs in PKR MediumDFDI pillars¹ DA ND DI OD High Medium Low Strengthen IP and data governance (laws and regulations) to align with international good practicesTHEME 7 Relevance Impact No. Option Effort Direct53Synchronize local data protection regulations with EU laws to instil confidence in foreign clients and enhance local companies’ capacity for responsible data processing High 54Revise IP laws and regulations to promote a progressive IP protection regime in line with the needs of the industry and alignment with international standards Medium Indirect 55Allow easy public access to data, especially for farmers to enable effective use of data to boost agritech activities LowDFDI pillars¹ DA ND DI OD High Medium MediumPolicy options to support Theme 6: Facilitate cross-border access to capital and funding for businesses Policy options to support Theme 7: Strengthen data governance (laws and regulations) to align with international good practices Digital FDI Initiative: Digital FDI-Enabling Project in Pakistan 41

Digital FDI Initiative Pakistan 2025