Pakistan Improves Modestly in Global Competitiveness Rankings

[2DashingLahori]

Pakistan had a relatively good showing on the BCI, developed by Harvard Business School competitiveness expert, Dr. Michael Porter. In the new Business Competitiveness Index (BCI), Pakistan ranks 67th among 121 countries.

On the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), Pakistan showed solid improvement from last year's 94th place to 91st place this year. 125 countries participated in this year's survey over 117 in the prior year. Pakistan's gains take on added significance when compared to the drop in rankings experienced by many noteworthy emerging markets. GCI rankings dropped by 9 for Russia and Brazil, by 6 for China, by 2 for Thailand and by 1 for Malaysia. With its rise of two places over last year, regional competitor India failed to keep pace with Pakistan's improvements.

A host of indicators make up the GCI, Pakistan ranked as follows: Initiatives (79), Infrastructure (67), Macro-economy (86), Market Efficiency (54), Technological Readiness (89), Innovation Factors (60) and Business Sophistication (66).

In comparison to last year's report, it should be noted that the World Economic Forum has a new methodology for evaluating the Global Competitiveness Index, therefore straight comparisons to rankings in prior years of the Growth Competitiveness Index cannot made directly. However, the rankings still indicate that there is a need to put further emphasis on primary, secondary and tertiary education in ways that contribute to the practical skills of the workforce. The report also suggests that Pakistan would do well to increase its number of business educational institutions. Interestingly, Pakistan scores relatively well in areas related to innovation and business sophistication.

Mr. Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), says that Pakistan made a strong first showing in the new Business Competitiveness Index, where Pakistan ranks 67th among 121 countries, only three places behind China. Secondly, the recent reforms of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz are registering gains, as according to the new methodology used by the World Economic Forum for the rankings, Pakistan scored relatively well for market efficiency at 54th place among 121 countries.

Additional work needs to be done to improve the Global Competitiveness Index ranking of Pakistan, especially in education, human resource development and expansion of business educational institutions says Minister of State Omar Ayub. He further pointed out that the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), which is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is working closely with the World Economic Forum on the ranking of Pakistan as well as on identifying the areas to be improved and the methodologies that will bring about that improvement. The CSF is also working with Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help create university/industry linkages to promote knowledge-based enterprise development in Pakistan. The CSF is developing the State of Pakistan's Competitiveness Report that goes into more detail on Pakistan's competitiveness.

Minister of State Omar Ayub highlighted the significance of these and other reports and rankings by noting that they stimulate a productive dialogue between the Government and citizens regarding important economic priorities going forward. This dialogue is important because poverty reduction and economic growth will depend in the long-term on Pakistan's ability to be a competitive economy. The Global Competitiveness Report makes a good contribution to this dialogue. Omar Ayub reiterated the steps being taken by the Government to bring about increased transparency and efforts to reduce the cost of doing business in Pakistan. These steps would attract enhanced FDI, and with the associated job creation, would bring greater prosperity to the people of Pakistan.

http://www.pr-inside.com/pakistan-im...ion-r20343.htm