News: CSF working on 2nd competitiveness report for Pakistan
Name of the Newspaper: Associated Press of Pakistan
Date of publication: Friday, 15 February, 2008
Website:http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28766&Itemid=49

KARACHI, Feb. 14 (APP): The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is on a fast track and working on the second competitiveness report for Pakistan.

A statement issued here on Thursday said that the CSF met with the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, to introduce the preliminary work of the State of Pakistan's Competitiveness Report 2008 and the emerging findings.

It said that Ms. Akhtar appreciated CSF's efforts in preparing such an important instrument for the Government of Pakistan to improve its global competitiveness rankings, which would help generate more job opportunities.

During the meeting, Ms. Akhtar provided her input and shared that the report should include defined actions and implications for the respective sectors and especially include the relationships between inflation and competitiveness to educate the audience on the inter-linkages between these two.

This includes decomposing macroeconomics and sector level issues such as energy crisis and competitiveness as well as issues such as raising per capita income, increasing demand.

She linked the raised interest rates in Pakistan with world wide oil prices and global food commodity prices to combat inflation.

The Governor asked CSF for financial and technical cooperation to fund an overview of the informal sector and its impact on macro-economy and competitiveness.

The State of Pakistan's Competitiveness Report 2008 will track Pakistan's performance, spotlighting the areas of progress and area of further focus.

In addition to explaining the results of the Global Competitiveness Report of 2007-08 of the World Economic Forum and bench marking Pakistan's progress against its peers, the report will evaluate the country's progress in raising its competitiveness in 2008-09. The 2008 Report will highlight a thematic area that 'may require focused attention from Pakistan's economic leadership.

Pakistan is ranked 92 among the 131 countries on the global competitiveness rankings.

CSF has started its interaction with key stakeholders, including all relevant ministries, leading public and private sector institutions, business councils and trade bodies along with academia and the media to identify the ares to improve Pakistan's competitiveness.

The CSF, a joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, as partner institution of the World Economic Forum (WEF)in Pakistan is working closely with the Global Competitiveness Network of the WEF on this report.

Support for CSF is part of the $ 1.5 billion in aid that the US Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health and governance.