LAHORE - The speakers at a seminar have stressed the need for long-term and sustainable policies, besides resolving energy crisis to support manufacturing sector leading to enhance economic growth volume of the country.
The conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy was organized by the Lahore School of Economics here on Wednesday.
Dr Ishrat Hussain, former SBP Governor and Dean of Institute of Business Administration observed that Pakistan can become a regional manufacturing hub only through macroeconomics stability and favorable environment. He said that the present positive economic indicators are only short-term, as they are driven largely by high inflow of remittances and borrowed money of IMF and Euro bonds issued with the name of ‘Islamic Sukuk’. Dr. Robert Wade, Professor, London School of Economics, in his address noted that before 1980’s the development was meant as overall prosperity and heavy investment on infrastructure and industry were considered as key drivers. After the mid 1980’s, the economists linked prosperity and economic growth with poverty reduction, humanitarian assistance, primary school education, primary health care, and corruption level.
Dr. Inayat Mangla, Professor, Western Michigan University analyzing the impact of macroeconomic environment on Pakistan’s manufacturing sector emphasized the role of monetary and fiscal policies in shaping the industrial investment. He, however, said that better macroeconomic atmosphere have often failed to produce the desired results owing to lack of coordination between monetary and fiscal policies.
Dr. Hafiz Pasha, Professor Emeritus, Lahore School of Economics, observed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate would be a maximum of 4.3 percent against government’s downward revised target of 4.5 percent in the current fiscal year 2014-15.
Dr Pasha said that growth rate would fall well short of its budgeted target growth rate of 5.1 percent due to sluggish growth of Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) industries, which is currently below 2 percent. Industrial growth is the engine of any country’s economy, however, it remains below the target and did not pick up momentum, he added.
Speakers looked at how the establishment of different types of firms across the districts of Punjab has impacted district level socioeconomic outcomes in Punjab. They said that entry of any new firm has a positive impact on economic outcomes like employment generation etc.
Dr. Shahzad Khan (Director Marketing and Sales at Getz Pharma Pvt Ltd) explained that Getz Pharma is the first and only manufacturing company in Pakistan and amongst few in the region to be certified by PIC/s. In the month of Feb, 2015 Getz Pharma initiated a ground breaking ceremony of its largest pharmaceutical plant to be constructed in South Asia.
Sajid Minhas (CEO, Delta Garments) illustrated the importance of the garment sector in the overall economic perspective. He said that garment sector has the potential to be the engine of Pakistan textile export growth, and secondly, it is the largest source of creating low cost employment at all levels. Pakistan’s garments and made-up exports have showed growth of over 20% in the last year. Ministry of Textile figures put it around one billion dollars of addition export in 2014. The duty free access to the EU through the GSP plus scheme has been a major cause for this healthy increase. The one major weakness is the fact that we need to diversify and enhance our product lines. There are very few products that Pakistan offers to the export markets of the world. We need to further develop products in the man-made fibers.
The conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy was organized by the Lahore School of Economics here on Wednesday.
Dr Ishrat Hussain, former SBP Governor and Dean of Institute of Business Administration observed that Pakistan can become a regional manufacturing hub only through macroeconomics stability and favorable environment. He said that the present positive economic indicators are only short-term, as they are driven largely by high inflow of remittances and borrowed money of IMF and Euro bonds issued with the name of ‘Islamic Sukuk’. Dr. Robert Wade, Professor, London School of Economics, in his address noted that before 1980’s the development was meant as overall prosperity and heavy investment on infrastructure and industry were considered as key drivers. After the mid 1980’s, the economists linked prosperity and economic growth with poverty reduction, humanitarian assistance, primary school education, primary health care, and corruption level.
Dr. Inayat Mangla, Professor, Western Michigan University analyzing the impact of macroeconomic environment on Pakistan’s manufacturing sector emphasized the role of monetary and fiscal policies in shaping the industrial investment. He, however, said that better macroeconomic atmosphere have often failed to produce the desired results owing to lack of coordination between monetary and fiscal policies.
Dr. Hafiz Pasha, Professor Emeritus, Lahore School of Economics, observed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate would be a maximum of 4.3 percent against government’s downward revised target of 4.5 percent in the current fiscal year 2014-15.
Dr Pasha said that growth rate would fall well short of its budgeted target growth rate of 5.1 percent due to sluggish growth of Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) industries, which is currently below 2 percent. Industrial growth is the engine of any country’s economy, however, it remains below the target and did not pick up momentum, he added.
Speakers looked at how the establishment of different types of firms across the districts of Punjab has impacted district level socioeconomic outcomes in Punjab. They said that entry of any new firm has a positive impact on economic outcomes like employment generation etc.
Dr. Shahzad Khan (Director Marketing and Sales at Getz Pharma Pvt Ltd) explained that Getz Pharma is the first and only manufacturing company in Pakistan and amongst few in the region to be certified by PIC/s. In the month of Feb, 2015 Getz Pharma initiated a ground breaking ceremony of its largest pharmaceutical plant to be constructed in South Asia.
Sajid Minhas (CEO, Delta Garments) illustrated the importance of the garment sector in the overall economic perspective. He said that garment sector has the potential to be the engine of Pakistan textile export growth, and secondly, it is the largest source of creating low cost employment at all levels. Pakistan’s garments and made-up exports have showed growth of over 20% in the last year. Ministry of Textile figures put it around one billion dollars of addition export in 2014. The duty free access to the EU through the GSP plus scheme has been a major cause for this healthy increase. The one major weakness is the fact that we need to diversify and enhance our product lines. There are very few products that Pakistan offers to the export markets of the world. We need to further develop products in the man-made fibers.
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