New Delhi, Jan 17 (AHN) The admission by Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb that some multinational companies have left the country due to ‘high taxes and energy costs’ has proved that doing business there is becoming extremely difficult for global firms.

Addressing the Pakistan Policy Dialogue, hosted by Policy Research and Advisory Council (PRAC), in Islamabad, he said there are firms that are leaving Pakistan, "which is true", reports Pakistan Observer.

“We must acknowledge if taxation is high, energy cost is high or financing cost, those have been real issues,” he was quoted as saying, calling on the companies to revise their business models, aligning them with the ‘modern world’.

In the recent past, apart from big companies like Procter & Gamble, Eli Lilly, Shell, Microsoft, Uber and Yamaha, scores of companies shifted their offices from Pakistan to Gulf countries and other destinations “in the face of excessive taxation”.

According to the report, “issues of higher taxation and inhibitive energy tariff cannot be brushed aside as such because local investors too have long been demanding genuine measures to reduce the cost of doing business”.

The report further stated that the growth “would not come in a void and tangible steps will have to be taken to attract investment and move towards solid industrialisation”.

Telenor Group has also finally exit Pakistan, announcing the successful completion of the sale of Telenor Pakistan to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), as the atmosphere to do business becomes extremely difficulty in the country.

Qatar-based Al Thani Group was the latest among a string of foreign companies to pull out of Pakistan because of the economic uncertainty and political turmoil in the country. The company expressed discontent over the delays in clearing dues by the Pakistan government and warned about operational suspension in case of default on payments, according to a recent article in the UK-based Asian Lite newspaper.