Lower borrowing costs and better utility services are key to boosting investment

Entrepreneurs are still interested in investing in sectors such as garments and textiles, but the current lending rate environment is making large-scale investment increasingly difficult. If we want to boost private sector investment, bringing down borrowing costs should be a priority in the upcoming budget.

I am not necessarily asking for lower tax rates. What businesses need most are uninterrupted gas and electricity supplies, faster approvals, and a more supportive operating environment. These are the issues that can significantly improve investment confidence.

We have been trying to encourage industries to adopt solar power, but duties on equipment and various procedural complexities create unnecessary hurdles. The budget should facilitate renewable energy investments by reducing these bureaucratic barriers.

Although there is a one-stop service framework, investors still face lengthy approval processes and administrative complications. In many cases, businesses spend so much time obtaining clearances that projects become financially unviable before production even begins.

The writer is also the managing director of Giant Group.