Pakistan’s trade regime has been gradually liberalised since 1990, but the process was not smooth. For long periods since then, the liberalisation process was either kept on hold or the reform process was reversed.
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To read more, click here: Unilateral Trade Liberalization
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Intellectual property (IP) plays an important role towards economic growth, especially in the modern knowledge-based economies. The IP regime deals with protection of trademarks and copyrights and granting patents. Foreign companies take into consideration the IP regime of a country before setting up business.
In Pakistan, protection against violation of intellectual property is weak. Currently, International Property Rights Index (IPRI) ranks Pakistan at 117 among 129 countries. As of late, some progress has been made as USA has moved Pakistan to its watch list from priority list in 2016. However, major issues are still lagging such as the twin problems of copyright violations and enforcements of IP rights laws. If these problems persist, Pakistan will be deprived of a sizeable amount of foreign direct investment. Especially now, as Pakistan is expecting high foreign investment pouring into the country as a result of CPEC and an emerging market status, issues of intellectual property rights have become crucial to our development designs.
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To read more: Trademark of Growth – Inquiring Pakistan’s Intellectual Property Rights Regime
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The geographical significance of a country plays a pivotal role in the world politics for
that country. It marks that how critically beneficial or non-beneficial is the country to the other countries in social, economic and political respects. Pakistan is located at a very strategically important place on the globe. It is located at the juncture of energy proficient to energy deficient countries. On one side it connects with the Persian Gulf and on the other gives access of the warm water to land locked countries. The geo-strategic importance of Pakistan is also evident from the fact that it is surrounded by world’s emerging economic giants; i.e. India and China, and the countries rich in natural resources; i.e. Afghanistan and Iran.
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To read more, click here: CPEC Geo Strategic importance of Pakistan
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The land-use pattern is undergoing a transition in Pakistan. The commercial demand for real estate is increasing and is expected to be dominated by mixed-use establishments, shopping malls, retail spaces and office units in 20161. It can be anticipated that through current trends and predictions that retail-related demand will headline this new pattern of commercial land-use.
Retail demand for real estate is a derived demand based on the performance of the retail sector which has stayed robust in growth despite the economic challenges of the country. This outlook of the retail sector in Pakistan is spurred by a rising trend in population and increasing urbanization. The result is the emergence of modern retail such as superstores, hyper-stores and shopping malls mainly in the three large metropolitans of the country i.e. Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad/Rawalpindi.
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To read more, click here: Modern Retailing – Prospects for retail complexes in Pakistan
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Safety net interventions in Pakistan have suffered from a conspicuous lack of evidence based policymaking. Numerous evaluations of the targeting process of programmes have identified design and implementation weaknesses. According to World Development Indicators (WDI) 2013, 60 per cent of the population in Pakistan lives below poverty line corresponding to $2 or PRs. 210/-1 per day so social protection as an area of government intervention has achieved enhanced budgetary priority in Pakistan recently with the advent of programme like BISP.
The aim of this report was to review the design of BISP, its effect on the private charity, attitudes of programme beneficiaries, focusing on collecting information regarding disbursements, procedural problems, and needs fulfilment and it examined the impact on the household standard of living.
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To read the full report, click here: Case transfer – Safety Net or Welfare Trap
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At the time of independence in 1947, there were no pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan. Today, the country boasts more than 700 pharmaceutical manufacturing units. In fact, QuintileIMS in its latest quarterly report1puts the ‘Active Manufacturers’ at 759, up from a total of 304 in 1999.However, official sources dispute this figure, contending that there are no more than 650 licensed manufacturers in Pakistani pharmaceutical industry.
This indicates a wide gulf between industry and the government that is characteristic of the pharmaceutical landscape in Pakistan. Taking the QuintileIMS figure as a reference point, only 27 are Multi-NationalCorporations (MNCs) while Pakistani firms account for 645 of the total 3. The generally accepted figure of MNCs, though, is 17 or 184, down from 40 or more in the 1990s.
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To read the full report, click here: Annual Report on the pharmaceuticals industry of Pakistan 2017
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitute.org
The goal of this report is to study the structure, services and challenges of the low-cost private schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study aims to: (a) Analyze existing coverage
and spread of low cost private schools in KP; (b) Map existing market structure, competition scenario and potential for growth; and (c) Examine incentives and motivation of existing and prospective service providers for setting up, sustaining and scaling up schools to facilitate increase in enrolment.
Literature cited indicates that during the last few decades, there has been a sharp growth in the number of private schools across Pakistan. A major contributor to this growth has remained the inability of the public sector to meet the increasing demand as well as to offer quality education. According to government statistics and some studies almost 33 to 50 percent of students in Pakistan are currently enrolled in private schools. [Continued]
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitute.org.
European Union’s GSP+ highlighted as a critical arrangement for Trade and Good Governance
Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME) has organized a roundtable conference on the launch of its report “Pakistan and the European Union (EU) under GSP+” in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) Pakistan. The report provides an update and analysis of the EU’s GSP+ status of Pakistan while also reviewing the current trade outlook of Pakistan in the world.
Pakistan was awarded EU’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+) status on 1st of January 2014 that aimed at promoting economic stability and good governance in the country. The status, which expires in December 2023, provides full removal of duties on most of the European Union’s tariff lines and is subject to compliance with 27 International Conventions.
Keeping in view the importance of Pakistan’s trade with EU i.e., a major export destination, representatives from the government, international community, private sector and think tanks actively took part in the consultative session.
Ms. Sarah Javaid, Research Economist at PRIME and author of the report highlighted the importance of the EU’s GSP+ for Pakistan while stating key findings from the report such that Pakistan’s exports to the EU have increased from an aggregate USD 37 billion (2007-13) to an aggregate USD 66 billion (2014-2022) and currently stand at USD 7.6 billion (10 months) in 2022. Referring to the report she added that Pakistan needs to sustain the GSP+ status post-2023 since in the absence of this arrangement, Pakistan would be subject to a maximum MFN tariff of 12% on the most traded tariff lines falling under this status. Moreover, the biggest beneficiary sector of GSP+ i.e. the textile sector, would have to bear a loss of exports worth USD 1.5 billion in form of exports.
Keeping in view the current status of the GSP+ for Pakistan, Mr. Thomas Seiler, Charge d’Affaires, European Union, appreciated the report and added that if the GSP+ continues given that Pakistan improves its compliance with the 27 UN Conventions, Pakistan would see a greater impact of modernization in the country as this status will improve the lives of its citizens. He added, exports from Pakistan to EU have increased due to GSP+ but growth should not be restricted to textile sector only. Furthermore, an assessment report that would be finalized in October 2022 would set the grounds for Pakistan’s readmission for GSP+ 2024-33’. Shedding some light on the new GSP+ regime, Mr. Thomas Seiler added to the discussion that Pakistan would have to re-apply for the next GSP+ status for which the European Parliament has approved a draft regulation where one of the requirements include abolishment of death penalty in Pakistan. Moreover, the new GSP+ of the EU would be subject to effective compliance with new conventions in addition to previous 27. He added that the work is still on going and the discussions are under progress.
Mr. Atif Aziz, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, stated that the Government of Pakistan is actively participating in ensuring the compliance with the 27 UN Conventions. The fourth and final Monitoring Mission by the EU has been recently concluded and the new scheme is in the discussion phase which would be officially notified by the Government of Pakistan once it is finalized.
Ms. Saleha Asif, CEO of Pakistan Textile Council (PTC) said that EU’s GSP+ is an emerging success story that has created better jobs and reduced poverty in many sectors of Pakistan. Stressing upon the importance of this arrangement for textile sector of Pakistan, Ms. Saleha said that apparel sector being supported by GSP+ employees more than 33% women. Moreover, the program does not just support Pakistan’s trade but also tends to improve working conditions especially in the export-oriented sectors and also benefits EU’s market with competitive supply of textiles.
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), exchanged his thoughts on the GSP+ status and added that its more of a political process rather bureaucratic. Focusing upon challenges being faced by the exporters in Pakistan, Dr. Vaqar said that firms in the vulnerable regions of Pakistan do not have trade finance. He was of the view that there is a need for an analysis on how the Pakistan’s trade policy and sectoral policy have assisted EU’s GSP+ while also keeping in view current schemes such as the tariff board, DTRE, and Manufacturing Bond.
Dr. Manzoor Ahmad, Pakistan’s former Ambassador at the WTO/Senior Fellow PIDE, argued that trade arrangements like the EU’s GSP+ are no doubt beneficial but there is a need to take bigger and smarter steps. Pakistan needs to have more Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and not restrict its trade policy to the short term. In addition to that, he informed the audience that Pakistan has been losing its international market share by 1.5% for the last couple of years and that there is a dire need for empirical studies before formulating such arrangements to understand where the country needs to go.
Ms. Birgit Lamm, Head of the Country Office Pakistan, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) said that GSP+ is not only a trade facilitation tool, but an opportunity for modernization in socio-economic, good governance & sustainability aspects for Pakistan and that it should strive to validate this status after 2023 in the interest of inclusive development.
Mr. Ali Salman, Founder and ED PRIME, concluded the event while saying that Pakistan should carefully evaluate all options for the future trade policy including joining regional partnerships like Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). He also emphasized that Pakistan’s constitution guarantees necessary personal, civil, and religious freedoms that are required by GSP+.
This consultative event was organized by PRIME in collaboration with FNF.
For inquiries, please contact saad@primeinstitute.org or call at 03345397644.
Find some of the glimpses from the said event, below:
This research report brings forth facts about the importance of Economic Zones (EZs) and discusses the factors that led to their success. EZs have seen a tremendous growth in numbers since 1970’s, and they are now the preferred mode of industrial clustering,
especially in the form of Special Economic Zones (SEZ). This has come about due to various advantages that they tend to confer in terms of industrial development. For example, they offer economies of scale in production and costs, act as incubators for new technological developments, spur new research and tend to have positive spillover effects. In the long term, factors like continued coordination and links with research organizations and academia help sustain and improve the performance of EZs.
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To read the full report, click here:
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitute.org
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitute.org
As work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) enters its third year, things are beginning to take shape. A number of projects have been delivered, some have been dropped altogether, and quite a few are being added to the Early Harvest category. Meanwhile, new project proposals are being pitched every day for their inclusion in CPEC. Now that the general elections are approaching, as per expectations budgetary allocations for such projects have increased. Inauguration ceremonies of infrastructure projects are going to become much more common, as the year progresses.
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To read the full report, click here: CPEC Monitor
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitution.org
For media inquiries, contact saad@primeinstitute.org