Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has said her government will not question investors about the source of their money when they bring businesses to the province, describing the approach as part of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s legacy.

“If you are bringing business, I would not ask where you are getting the money from,” she said while addressing the launch of the Punjab government’s PIVOT program in Lahore on Friday.

Federal Laws Still Apply

Maryam Nawaz clarified that she remained bound by federal laws, rules and regulations governing financial matters.

“If it were up to me, I would not want to ask anyone who comes to do business where they are bringing the money from,” she said.

No New Taxes in Punjab

The chief minister said Punjab had not introduced any new taxes during the past two and a half years. She described this as a difficult achievement, adding that the provincial government had focused on bringing more people and businesses into the tax net instead.

She also criticised the Federal Board of Revenue’s approach, saying it often increases the burden on existing taxpayers rather than bringing untaxed sectors of the economy into the system.

She illustrated the practice by saying that authorities increase the tax paid by people who are already compliant, while a large part of the economy remains outside the tax net.

Punjab Pushes Investment and Jobs

Maryam Nawaz said her government was working to attract investment, promote business activity and reduce bureaucratic hurdles.

She said the provincial government had issued loans worth around Rs. 200 billion under its business financing scheme.

Punjab has also trained around 400,000 skilled workers, with plans to train another 600,000, she added.