Towards a Competitive Pakistan: The Role of Industrial Policy
March 27, 2014
Irfan ul Haque, South Centre, Geneva
The paper’s basic premise is that an improvement in Pakistan’s export performance is crucial to raising economic growth. After examining the reasons generally given for the poor export performance, it concludes that the country’s very slow productivity growth was the single most important factor that hurt competitiveness. It argues that a coherent and articulated industrial policy is required to overcome this disadvantage. While the experience of the East Asian economies offers useful lessons, policy must accord with Pakistan’s own conditions, as they are in many ways different. The formulation of industrial policy should involve key stakeholders, particularly, the private sector. The paper identifies certain factors that should underpin the new industrial policy, notably, the changed basis of international specialisation and rules governing world trade.
About the presenter:
Dr. Irfan ul Haque – a macro-economist with special interest in trade, finance and development – is Special Advisor at the South Centre. Over the past several years, he has helped the Lahore School in organising the Annual Conferences, including this one. Dr. Haque served as a member of a Group of Eminent Persons, set up by UNCTAD, to examine the issue of commodities and financing, whose report was submitted in 2003 to the UN General Assembly.
He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Cambridge. He started his career at UNCTAD, and later worked in various capacities in the World Bank from 1970 to 1995. After leaving the Bank, Dr. Haque joined the South Centre in 1998. He has served as a consultant to UNCTAD, UN, ILO, UNDP, and G-24. He is author of a number of publications, covering issues of international finance and trade, and macroeconomics as well as science and technology.
Labels: CREB, Pakistan, Pakistan Economy
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/27/2014 09:30:00 AM,
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