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Thursday, 6 September, 2012
NOT COMPETITIVE ENOUGH Pakistan loses its competitiveness on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2012 2013 Falls 6 points on the Global Competitiveness Ranking, 124 among 144 economies
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ONLINE
AkISTAN has been ranked among bottom 20 of the 144 economies around the world in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released Wednesday by the World Economic Forum. According to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) 2012-13, Pakistan lacks a long-term view of competitiveness. The level of corruption and poor governance are some of the factors slowing down Pakistan’s economic growth, therefore ranking Pakistan at 124 among 144 other countries on the index. The World Economic Forum ranks countries on more than 100 economic indicators comparing 144 countries. “Persisting divides in competitiveness across regions and within regions, particularly in Europe, are at the origin of the turbulence we are experiencing today, and this is jeopardizing our future prosperity.” said klaus Schwab, Founder and
Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. “We urge governments to act decisively by adopting long-term measures to enhance competitiveness and return the world to a sustainable growth path.” Pakistan’s secured ranking on 12 pillars: institutions (115), infrastructure (116), macroeconomic environment (139), Health and Primary Education (117) Higher Education and Training (124), Goods Market Efficiency (97), Labor Market Efficiency (130) Financial Market Development (73), Technological Readiness (118), Market Size (30), Business Sophistication (78) and Innovation (77). ‘Pakistan has lost its competitive advantage almost on all the pillars of the competitiveness index except for in Health, Primary Education and Labor market Efficiency’ says Amir Jahangir Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan, country partner for the Center of Global Competitiveness and Performance at the World Economic Forum. Further adding, although Pakistan showed good performance on the innovation and sophistication pil-
Corridor of certainty ECO trade corridor to help Pakistan trouble-free export of goods to Turkey ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul trade corridor or ECO trade corridor, which is likely to be opened this year, will help Pakistan export its goods directly to Turkey without any hindrance. The corridor will be later expanded to the European countries. The 5th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Transit Transport Coordination Council (TTCC), was held in Islamabad in May aimed at bringing the ECO countries closer in trade and economic activities, said a source in Ministry of Communications on Wednesday. He said that the ECO provided a unique opportunity of trade development as its member states’ borders stretched from Europe to South Asia and from the shores of Arabian Sea to the Russian borders. Pakistan, he said, had extended transit trade facilities to the land-locked member states of ECO states through its warm water seaports but the benefits of that facility could not be optimized without an efficient road and rail network. The source said that for that reason Pakistan had conceived the National Trade Corridor (NTC) and responsibility of its early construction had been given to the Ministry of Communications. He said that the NTC would provide an efficient and economical road network for inter-regional connectivity, particularly an effective access to Pakistan’s seaports to the ECO member states. Establishment of the road corridor will greatly facilitate the implementation of the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA); an agreement signed a decade ago to facilitate trade and transport among the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization, he said. APP
lars, but on the factors for basic requirements and efficiency enhancer pillars Pakistan continues to show poor performance. The Pakistani business community has identified Corruption as the most problematic factor for doing business in the country. The report indicates that Pakistan has failed to come up with effective regulations on intellectual property protection, where the country lost its position of 93 to 108 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. Poor governance in terms of favoritism in decision-making (129) and wastefulness of government spending (96) have also shown significant decline in rankings. The Efficiency of Legal Framework in Challenging Regulations has also impacted the competitiveness of Pakistan’s economy as it has declined from 79 in 2011 to 97 in 2012. The law and order situation has been a serious threat to the economic activities, with war on terror and other target killing issues impacting throughout the year, the Reliability of Police Service has
gone to 127 in the current year as compared to 116 in the last year. On the Macroeconomic Pillar the government’s performance has been weak with the budget balance ranking (% of GDP) deteriorating from 108 to 125 from 2011 to 2012 respectively. The general government debt has also seen poor performance as it has lost 11 points from last year, by being ranked at 107 in the current year. Although Pakistan ranked 41 in 2011 on the Tax Collection Efficiency index, however the economy has lost its competitive advantage due to decline in 2012 by ranking to 59, limitations on the ease of access to loans and venture capital availability, where Pakistan stands at 65 and 55 respectively. The labor market efficiency pillar shows a decline in the cooperation between labor and employer relations whereas the rank has slipped from 80 to 90. The GCR also identifies that the businesses in Pakistan are shying away from reliance on professional management as the ranking has decreased from 88 to 101.
EXPERTS WELCOME SINGLE DIGIT INFLATION ISLAMABAD APP
Experts and business community here on Wednesday welcomed the decrease in inflation to single digit saying that if the trend continues it would boost economic activities and enhance purchasing power of the common people. “The decreasing trend in the international oil prices, reduction in the interest rates by State Bank of Pakistan are some of the reasons that helped decrease inflation domestically,” Former Finance Minister and newly elected Chairman Lahore Stock Exchange, Dr. Salman Shah told APP. He was of the view that if the trend of declining inflation continues, it will benefit the people, boost investment and economic activities in the country. Shah observed that the inflation could go further come down if the oil prices in the international market go down. Meanwhile, commenting on single digit inflation, Director Pakistan Institution of Development Economics (PIDE) Dr. Abdul Qayyum said that the inflation has come after holy month of Ra-
mazan as the prices went up in the month. He was of the view that increase in oil prices at international market may affect the inflation in the country adding that if the prices of oil go down, if would help further reduction in inflation domestically. On the other hand, business community expressed mixed reaction over decreasing of Consumer Price Index (CPI) in August to single digit. President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for taking further measures for the socio-economic welfare of the common man in the country. However, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Yassir Sakhi Butt was of the view that the inflation rate declined apparently but claimed that it would have no positive impact if the trend discontinues. He said that international oil prices would have strong impact on the over all inflation in the country. Zaheer Ahmed a stock market analyst said that decrease in the inflation to single degit to benefit overall economy and investments in the country. “This will also benefit the private sector business in the country”, he said.
Mobile, telecommunication imports increase in July ISLAMABAD: The Telecommunication imports during the first month of the ongoing fiscal year (2012-13) increased by 12.98 percent and 16.24 percent as compared to the imports of July 2011 and June 2012 respectively. The overall telecommunication imports during July 2012 were recorded at US$112.378 million against the imports of US$99.470 million in July 2011 and US$96.680 million in June 2012, according to the figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among the telecommunication products, the imports of mobile phones increased by 6.90 percent in July 2012 as compared to the imports of the same month of last year. Mobile imports during July 2012 were recorded at US$52.661 million against the imports of US$49.261 million during July 2011, the PBS data revealed. However, as compared to the imports of US$56.176 million recorded during June 2012, the mobile imports during July 2012 witnessed decrease of 6.26 percent. The imports of other telecommunication apparatus during July 2012 increased by 18.94 percent and 47.43 percent when compared to the imports of July 2011 and June 2012, according to the data. The imports of other telecommunication apparatus stood at US$59.717 million in July against the imports of 50.209 million in July 2011 and US$40.504 million in June 2012. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall imports in July, 2012 were recorded at $ 3,662 million as compared to $ 3,979 million in June 2012, showing a decrease of 7.97% and 0.73% as compared to $ 3,689 million in July, 2011. Main commodities of imports during July, 2012 were Petroleum products(Rs 93,245 million), Petroleum crude (Rs 34,285 million), Palm oil (Rs 19,917 million), Power generating machinery (Rs 9,461 million), Plastic materials (Rs 9,313 million), Iron & steel (Rs 8,150 million), Raw cotton (Rs 6,624 million), Iron and steel scrap (Rs 5,796 million), Other apparatus (Telecom) (Rs 5,636 million) and Electrical machinery & apparatus (Rs 5,507 million). APP
Oil refineries stop supply to cash-strapped PSO ISLAMABAD: Following Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) failure to clear its liabilities of Rs 188 billion, national and international oil refineries have stopped supplying fuel to the state oil agency. Sources said PSO’s liabilities towards national and international oil refineries had crossed Rs 188 billion and the cash-strapped oil agency had failed to clear its dues. They said PSO had to pay Rs 97 billion to local refineries and Rs 91 billion to international refineries, who had stopped fuel supply that could lead to the suspension of fuel supply cycle across the country. The sources further said more than 85 percent of the oil was imported and in case of suspension in the fuel supply, business activities in the country would be severely affected. They said the demand of oil in the country was 21 million tons currently and local production of crude oil was just 15 percent of the supply. Non-payment of dues from power sector has resulted into financial constraints for PSO and situation has become alarming. The sources added that the power sector was the main defaulter of the PSO. ONLINE
PASDEC OPTIMISTIC ABOUT MARBLE g
Says Pakistan can exploit marble, granite resources to boost economy ISLAMABAD APP
Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) Ihsanullah khan said on Wednesday that Pakistan could exploit marble and granite resources to boost its economy. Pakistan is blessed with huge reserves of natural stone like marble and granite in multiple colours, shades and veinages, he said speaking at the inaugural ceremony of All Pakistan Marble Industries Association (APMIA) Head Office here. PASDEC has now introduced mechanized quarrying through modern ma-
chinery to develop the marble and granite sector. He appreciated APMIA’s efforts in supporting PASDEC at a time when it was needed. He said that APMIA is the true representative body of marble and granite stakeholders that is growing by the day. Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), not a profit organization, is dedicated to make Pakistan globally competitive and socially responsible player of the international dimensional stone industry. The PASDEC is focused on achieving one goal, extraction of `’Square Blocks.’’ This strategy would have a trickle down
effects through the value chain of the industry, achieving tremendous transformational impact, he added. He said that PASDEC has established 29 prototype projects of marble and granite in a short span fulfilling its due commitment to the sector. “We established three Model Quarries at khuzdar (Balochistan), Buner (kPk) and Chitral (kPk) and 10 Quarry Up-gradations in Balochistan, khyber Pakhtunkhawa, FATA, Sindh and Punjab. The Quarrying projects are producing Square Blocks of marble.” The mechanized quarrying practices decrease the natural stone wastage ratio
from 85% to 40% (mine to processing). It also discourages blasting practices of extraction of natural stone which is not only dangerous to human life but is adding to environmental degradation.” khan said that PASDEC has also established two warehouses at Gaddani and Risalpur for storage of raw stone and finished products of marble and granite. While two machinery pool projects established at Gaddani and Risalpur are serving mine owners and lease holders to acquire modern quarrying machinery on nominal rental charges. The PASDEC, he said will establish Marble City at Mohmand Agency (FATA), Risalpur and Loralai to facilitate
processing with trained workforce and latest processing machinery and infrastructure. Two Common Facility Training Centers (CFTCs) will also be established. He said that by the efforts of APMIA and PASDEC the marble export quantum is increasing at 35% annually. He hoped that $500 million export target will be achieved in near future. Sikandar Hayat khan Jogezai Chairmain of APMIA and ex-chairmen Shahid- ur-Rehman, Abdusami and Saleem Mughal also present on the occasion. They expressed their views on APMIA and their confidence on PASDEC and landed its performance.