News: Pakistan bad performer in 40 areas: competitiveness support fund report released
Name of the Newspaper: Business Recorder
Date of publication: Tuesday, March 13 , 2007
Website: http://www.businessrecorder.com.pk

ISLAMABAD (March 13 2007): The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) has reported that Pakistan is a bad performer, as compared with India, in 40 areas, including market access, business sophistication and technology application. However, it gave Pakistan better ranking than its archrival in government efficiency having less red-tapism and influence of the powerful in policy making.

The CSF report on Pakistan competitiveness released here on Monday, said that India showed better performance in willingness to delegate authority, staff training, reliance on professional management, incentive compensation, regional sales, research & development and capacity for innovation.

India also outperformed Pakistan in efficiency of corporate boards, staff training, technology transfer, quality of management schools, local competition, buyer sophistication, supplier quantity, venture capital availability and degree of customer orientation.

India also has better basic requirements for institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic and health and primary education. The areas wherein Pakistan has shown improvement include public trust in government, ethics and corruption, favouritism of government officials, efficiency, undue Influence and interest rates.

Pakistan also outperformed India in other areas such as hiring and firing practices, time required to start business, interest rate spread, real effective exchange rate, macro economy, quality of electricity supply, malaria prevalence and government surplus/deficit.

While releasing the report, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the CSF report was a wakeup call for the government as well as the private sector, and they should go hand in glove to rise to the challenges confronting its economy. He added that competitiveness is the cornerstone of economic growth which generates more employment and reduces poverty. He said that all arms of the government and the private sector would have to be involved to improve Pakistan's ranking in the global competitiveness index.

Mission Director USAID Pakistan, Jonathan Addleton, reiterated on the occasion USAID's long-term support for competitiveness and economic growth activities in Pakistan.

Arthur Bayhan, CEO of the Competitiveness Support Fund, in his presentation, briefed the audience about the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report on Pakistan and other countries. In particular, he highlighted the importance of the provincial and local leaders to be part of the competitiveness dialogue. The Competitiveness Support Fund is working directly with each region in addressing the key competitiveness issues at the regional level.
etitiveness Report’ would foster broader understanding of country’s competitiveness challenges and stimulate debate among the government, business, education, civil society and regional leaders on the priority actions.